The Apology: A close reading on political apologies

Trump's Public Apology

On October 7, 2016, Donald Trump shared a public apology on his Facebook's presidential campaign page, which was meant to address his inappropriate comments about sexually assaulting women from a decade ago. The “apology” was announced after a video was released early October 2016, where Trump was caught bragging to Billy Bush about grabbing women by the pussy (00:01:24-00:01:28). I've placed quotes around the word apology because for the majority of Trump's statement, he gloats about what a wonderful person he has become, and rather than saying "sorry," he deflects the attention to his opponent, Hillary Clinton, saying that she is “[running] our country into the ground." Furthermore, Trump exclaims that Hillary Clinton is the real bully for shaming her husband’s victims that he sexually abused.
(Trump’s apology)
 
While reviewing his public apology, I will draw from academic sources to help analyze the real objective of Trump’s apology, the style, the channel he’s used to convey his message, and the effect of his apology. I will also demonstrate how Trump strategically diverts blame as a part of image repair theory. The overall purpose is to review politicians’ tendencies to strategically manipulate their messages in public apologies to attain a positive image. I will then conclude with why this is an issue, and what an ideal apology should be.

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