Inside 'the weave': How Donald Trump's rhetoric has grown darker and windier
Over the closing weeks of his third presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s presentation has grown as disjointed as ever and notably darker
DULUTH, Ga. (AP) — No scene has dominated U.S. politics since 2015 quite like Donald Trump on stage, waxing on for an hour-plus in front of a chorus of red “Make America Great Again” hats.
The stream-of-consciousness routine, the interrupting one of his thoughts with the next, is not a polemic Cicero or Lincoln would recognize. The former president and Republican nominee calls his style of speech “the weave,” whipsawing from dystopian warnings to light-hearted storytelling to policy pronouncements.
“You make a speech, and my speeches last a long time because of the weave, you know, I mean, I weave stories into it,” Trump explained last week to popular podcaster Joe Rogan. “If you don’t — if you just read a teleprompter, nobody’s going to be very excited. You’ve got to weave it out. So you — but you always have to — as you say, you always have to get right back to work. Otherwise, it’s no good. But the weave is very, very important. Very few weavers around. But it’s a big strain on your — you know, it’s a big — it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of work.”
Over the closing weeks of his third presidential campaign, Trump’s presentation has grown as disjointed as ever and notably darker. But the crowds keep coming, cheering his nationalistic populism, laughing at the insults and chanting along, fists raised, with his benedictory pledges to make America strong, proud, healthy, wealthy and, of course, great again.
