Rhetoric & Logic

Exhibit A · Weapons I carried in war

Verdict · Manufactured ethos · manufactured-ethos

We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.

Rhetoric · The campaign line puts a weapon in his hands in war. The picture is the soldier. A deployment is asked to arrive already understood as combat.

Logic · He served 24 years in the National Guard and was not deployed to a combat zone. “Carried in war” is asked to mean carried in combat. It does not follow. A Harris campaign spokesperson said in August 2024 that he misspoke. The walk-back is on the record. So is the sentence. An earlier version of this file quoted a paraphrase as the line, and then quoted the real line in the logic as if it were a second sentence. Both errors are withdrawn.

Source · 2018 campaign video; Harris campaign said he misspoke, Aug 2024. CNN.

Exhibit B · The rank at retirement

Verdict · Manufactured ethos · manufactured-ethos

Not one sentence. He referred to himself as retired at the rank of command sergeant major. An earlier version set that description in quotation marks.

Rhetoric · He referred to himself as retired at the rank of command sergeant major. The higher title does the credentialing. The audience hears the rank he wants remembered.

Logic · He held the rank while serving. He retired as master sergeant, one grade down, after leaving before the required coursework was finished. A rank held in service is not the rank on the retirement order. Using the higher one as the retired rank inflates the credential. The service underneath is not the claim. The claim is the title.

Source · Minnesota National Guard record: retired as master sergeant. Washington Post, Aug 2024.

Exhibit C · Tiananmen

Verdict · Manufactured ethos · manufactured-ethos

As the events were unfolding, several of us went in.

Rhetoric · At a 2014 hearing he said he was in Hong Kong as the events unfolded, and that several of them went in. The sentence offers a witness. Proximity is used as credential.

Logic · The massacre was 3–4 June 1989. Minnesota Public Radio found a 16 May 1989 photograph of him at the National Guard armory in Alliance, Nebraska, and an 11 August 1989 report that he would leave Sunday for China. At the 1 October 2024 debate he said he got there that summer and misspoke. August in China is not June in the square. An earlier version of this file quoted “I was in China during Tiananmen Square.” That was a paraphrase. It is withdrawn.

Source · Claim vs. August 1989 travel. Minnesota Public Radio / debate, Oct 2024.

Exhibit D · IVF, said; IUI, used

Verdict · Manufactured ethos · manufactured-ethos

Not a quotation. He implied, and allowed coverage to confirm, that his children were conceived by IVF. Gwen Walz later said the procedure was IUI. The marks are removed.

Rhetoric · He implied, and allowed coverage to confirm, that his children were conceived by IVF. In 2024 IVF was the legal flashpoint after the Alabama ruling. The hotter word did the political work.

Logic · The procedure was IUI. The two are not the same treatment, the same law, or the same stake. A personal example proves only the procedure that occurred. “Shorthand” asks the listener to forget which word was in the sentence. That is equivocation.

Source · IUI, not IVF. New York Times, Aug 2024.