This document provides a literature review and background on Donald Trump's use of non-apology in his presidential campaign. It summarizes Trump's history of verbal attacks on opponents and public figures through media and Twitter, for which he refuses to apologize. The document reviews scholarly literature on political apology and establishes Trump's approach as a new "no apology" model of political communication. It aims to analyze how Trump's unapologetic style has impacted his successful campaign and may represent an emerging trend in politics.

1. Trumping the Rules
Apologia & Politics
Lauren Apetz

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Table of Contents:
1) Introduction
2) Literature Review
a) Plan of Attack
3) Trump and News
4) Trump and Twitter
5) Trump’s Take
6) Analysis and Implications
7) References

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Introduction
Donald Trump is not your typical presidential candidate. Trump is an outspoken business
man with zero political experience. Even with no experience Trump leads on the GOP side of the
race. Being the president of the Trump organization is about all the qualifications he has to even
be in this presidential race. He only knows money. His net worth is about 4.5 billion dollars.
Because Trump has made all this money and has all this power Trump doesn’t try to impress nor
does he care what people think about him.
Over the years America has seen numerous politicians stand before them and apologize
for actions that hurt their political image. One of the most famous speeches being Nixon’s “I Am
Not a Crook” speech directed at the American people after the Watergate scandal. This apology
did Nixon no good as he was later impeached. An apology that actually worked for a president
was a speech given by John F. Kennedy apologizing for the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
After he addressed this issue and publicly apologized his ratings actually got better. Political
apology is necessary to keep peace between the politician and the people that he or she is
governing.
Donald Trump never apologizes. He appeared on The Tonight Show on Jimmy Fallon
and stated, “I’ll apologize when I’m wrong, [pause] but I’m never wrong.” Trump attacks people
verbally, openly, making statement about a person’s appearance, abilities, or ideals. Even when
he says a woman was being crazy because she was on her period, he doesn’t apologize. Trump
makes daily personal attacks on people and never apologizes, yet he is still a front runner to be
the next U.S. President. All of these non-apologies haven’t gone unnoticed. People have been

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asking for Trump to apologize on numerous occasions and he refuses to, as if it is part of his plan
to get the seat in the oval office.
Apologia is a communication genre. This genre can be defined as a “public speech of
self-defense” that is issued in response to an attack on one’s character or worth (Towner).”
Schlenker states there are 5 elements in an apology, “Some form or expression of guilt,
recognition of indiscretion, rejecting the inappropriate behavior, taking up appropriate conduct,
and offering penance and compensating victims (Schlenker 157).” Political apologia is necessary
in maintaining a positive image with the voters. An apology gives a politician, who has wronged
a person or a group of people to ask for forgiveness, and hope that people will trust will be
gained back.
Jim Geraghty of the National Review states there is a new kind of conservatism, the ‘No
Apologies’ Conservatism. For his two part model he used Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Michael
Savage, Ann Coulter, and others to study and create this model. Part one of the model is, “Say
something controversial or provocative and get a ton of attention in the process.” Part two of the
model states, “When the media and the Left inevitably demand an apology, adamantly refuse to
provide one, driving your critics batty and burnishing your conservative credentials with the
base.” (National Review) Keep this model in mind throughout the paper as it will become
apparent how Trump fits into this new kind of Conservative.
“Apologies play an important role in society. They maintain the bonds of social
relationships, and help solidify some level of trust between public officials and the public at
large. Apologies play a similarly important role in electoral politics, but fake, incomplete or
insincere apologies threaten to undermine this function of building and sustaining trust between

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citizens and those that govern (Eisinger 136). Apologies, especially from political officials or
those with significant power, are very important in building trust between the people and the
individual. People understand that no one is perfect, but a good apology can give the leader the
chance to redeem themselves and the trust of the people.
“In She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, John Wayne said to his young cavalry, “Don’t apologize-
it’s a sign of weakness.” Apologies do not right all wrongs, nor are they panaceas for mitigating
social ills. But apologies serve an important functions- to the wronged, and to society as a whole.
As Martha Minow notes, “Apologies may restore some dignity, but not the lives as they existed
before the violations (Eisinger 141).”
Plan of Study
First and foremost I will be looking at Donald Trump’s personal Twitter account. This
gives me a look at the daily accusations and non-apologies given by Trump. I will watching GOP
Debates, various news outlets (Fox, CNN, etc.), other social media, and late night talk show
interviews and skits. Any information gathered from these outlets are from the time frame of
August 2015, when I first began my study on this topic, to April 2016, when I concluded my
study on this topic.
One of my main goals for this paper is to see how Trump blatantly goes against the
classic political apology idea and how this affects his run for presidential candidacy. The other
main goal is to have Neminem Excusat (No Apology) accepted into the political apologia genre
in the speech communication scholarly world.

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Literature Reviewed
The literature covered in this section will be used throughout this study. The literature
used ranges from scholarly journal articles to social media posts. The reason for such a wide
variety of literature is that a lot of my research was gathered day to day as my paper was being
constructed during the campaign.
What I am using:
One article, “What is Apologia? A description and history of the term” by Emil Towner
from his personal website, fully describes what apologia is. I will be using this article to fully
explain how apologia is supposed to work and how Trump does not follow this model.
The next article, “Apologia, Antapologia and Political Power in Congressional Candidate
Sex Scandals” by James R. Briscoe, gives so much information on political apology that it really
is a great piece to use for my paper.
Scholarly Articles
First, “The Political Non-Apology” by Robert M. Eisinger. I will be using this article to
hit home the idea of the new kind of political apology, which is non-apology. This article will
help me compare Trump to this new budding form of Apologia and how I want to create my own
form of political apologia.
Next, The Speech Act of Apology in Political Life” by Adina Abadi, actually gives a
great framework s to what is involved in the political apology. It has a great diagram that will be
very helpful in explaining apologia.
Purpose

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The purpose of this paper is to bring a new kind of political apology to light, the no-
apology apology. Trump has been successful in the polls without apologizing for any of the
comments he’s made towards common Americans, news figures, and other political frontrunners.
I believe that this new form of political apology should start being recognized in the field of
speech communication, as I believe that Americans may be moving towards this form of non-
apology. This is true because Trump has been successful, so if Trump can do this then why can’t
everyone else.
Trump and News
Donald Trump has no problem making News headlines. CNN, “Donald Trump: I wasn’t
talking about Carly Fiorina’s face.” The Washington Post, “Donald Trump: No apology for
questioning Ben Carson’s Seventh-day Adventist faith.” US News, “Watch Donald Trump
Attack a Heckler for Being Fat.” These headlines are just a few of the many that are written
about Trump.
Trump is a very outspoken individual who has no issue making rude comments and
verbally attacking people with little to no remorse. In the early stages of his presidential run
(September) Trump made some rude comments about fellow then republican presidential
candidate Carly Fiorina in an interview with Rolling Stone. He suggested that Carly Fiorina’s
face would make her unelectable (CNN). Instead of apologizing for a statement that most of
America perceived to be about looks he instead told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day”, “I’m
not talking about look. I’m talking about persona.” This is hard to believe since he later said in
that same interview, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the
face of our next president (CNN).” Again, not apologizing. He is unremorseful on his comments

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as well. His stance on his political campaign, at least the early makings of it, is not that of
political correctness and politeness, but rather to entertain people. “Some of my comments are
made as an entertainer. And, as everybody said, as an entertainer [it] is a much different
ballgame.”
Carly Fiorina is not the only presidential candidate to be attacked by Trump.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and ex republican candidate Ben Carson were also
attacked by Trump. He has no limits when it comes to his attacks. In a rally in December he
described Clinton’s trip to the restroom “Too disgusting to talk about” (The Washington Post).
The attack against Carson was on his faith, which is something of importance for the Republican
Party. “I mean, Seventh - day Adventist, I don’t know about. I just don’t know about.” In a later
interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Trump stated, “I would certainly give an apology if I said
something bad about it. But I didn’t. All I said is I don’t know about it.” People of the media
were calling for him to apologize and he refused to.
Women often seem to be at the brunt of Trump’s attacks. One of the most famous attacks
made by Trump was made in the early stages of his run for GOP Candidate in August 2015. The
tweet comes after the first Fox News GOP Debate. The victim of the attack Fox News anchor
and debate moderator Megyn Kelly. The controversial quote, “You could see there was blood
coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever” (CNN). This attack in sort of a form
of self-defense as Kelly was very pressing about his opinions on women and sexist remarks he
has made in the past [ex. Fiorina]. This is not the first time Trump is known to have sexist
remarks or rude remarks in general towards women. Trump has referred to women urinating or
pumping their milk as disgusting (The New York Times). Megyn Kelly commented on the

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attack, “Trump, who is the frontrunner, will not apologize. And I certainly will not apologize for
doing good journalism.”
“Only in an America so confused that it has become a kind of political Planet Bizzaro
could a bully like Trump find any support for demanding an apology from her because she tried
to give potential voters vital information about the way he has denigrated women.”
-David Zurawik (Baltimore Sun)
The attacks that he makes on individuals is nothing less than heartless, and no one is safe
from them. The attacks can range from Trump making at least eight different rude remarks about
Republican candidate Marco Rubio sweating (Politico), to Trump calling Pope Francis
disgraceful for questioning his faith (The Guardian). Multiple “unknown” individuals have been
victims of these attacks. In November, at one of his rallies, a protestor decided to create a
disturbance when Trump made a rude comment about the 50 million Americans who use food
stamps. The man was removed from the rally by security Trump finished him off with an insult,
“You know, it’s amazing, I mention food stamps and that guy who’s seriously overweight went
crazy. He went crazy” (US News). He can attack anyone and he will.
His verbal attacks aren’t the only thing that makes Americans demand apologies from
him. It is also what he doesn’t say that makes Americans furious. In an interview on NBC’s
“Today” show Trump had the chance to disavow the former KKK grand wizard David Duke but
didn’t. This sent the nation into an uproar. Not good press for the front runner. Trump later
addressed his lack of comment on CNN’s “State of the Union”. He did not apologize for not
disavowing David Duke, but rather blamed the whole incident on a bad earpiece. Trump brashly
stated, “I was sitting in a house in Florida, with a bad earpiece. I could hardly hear what he [the

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interviewer] was saying. I hear various groups. I don’t mind disavowing anyone. I disavowed
Duke the day before at a major conference.”
“God can’t even get an apology from Trump”- Jim Geraghty
Trump and Twitter
Trump’s twitter account has been nothing less than hilariously entertaining to follow
throughout the year. Again, he has no filter. What makes Twitter a little different than news is it
is really hard to Trump to try to blame what he is saying on something else, such as the KKK
earpiece trouble. Now his attacks are in writing. His Twitter consists of petty attacks, retweets
from loyal Trump supporters, to very well thought out methodical attacks. For a good laugh
follow @realDonaldTrump… you won’t be disappointed.
Twitter has allowed Trump to reach a larger number of people than any other president in
the past. Trump has almost 8 million Twitter followers as of April ’16. In Figure 1 of the
appendix, you can see that his Twitter followers increased by 1 million in the short span of a
month. Dick Simpson, a political science professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago
discusses the importance of Twitter in a campaign. “Twitter followers are not enough to elect
him, but media coverage of tweets have gone a long way. It’s a new campaign style.” Compared
to the Republicans who dropped out of the race, he had also
Donald Trump’s tweets have taken the media by storm. They have gotten coverage from
well respected news outlets like CNN and Fox News, all the way down to late night talks shows
like Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel. They have a special place on Jimmy Kimmel’s shows as
people such as Mitt Romney; read mean tweets about themselves that Donald has tweeted out.
Award winning singer Josh Groban also had a segment where he put the mean tweets to music

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and sang them for a new “album”. Getting this kind of publicity allows Trump to be more well
known, and could lead to getting people’s votes.
The word sorry only appears on his Twitter a few times. In this tweet, it is in the most
backhanded way possible. “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you
all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure, it's not your fault.” The only other time
there is a tweet remotely related to apologies is when he blames an intern for rewteeting a
controversial tweet. He tweets out, “The young intern apologies for the retweet.” Other
candidates and people who have the public eye have used Twitter to usher apologies out without
having to say I’m sorry on camera. Trump’s Twitter has no legitimate apologies on it. This backs
up the fact that Trump never apologizes.
The New York Times has an online list that contains over 200 people, places, and things
that Trump has attacked since he announced he was running for president last year. The whole
article itself is over 30 pages long, with multiple attacks per person, place, or thing. Trump’s
Twitter attacks more than 200 people and has the New York Times keep the list up to date,
updating the list almost every day because attacks are made daily. As the Republican candidate
being known for Twitter attacks is not the most endearing quality to be known for.
Some specific attacks to note are those made on Megyn Kelly, Marco Rubio, and Ted
Cruz. Trump took to Twitter to try and defend the blood comment made during a debate on
Twitter by claiming he just got on with thought. He also calls Megyn Kelly a bimbo, called her
out for being a bad journalist, and says she needs to get a life. The attacks against Rubio were
very repetitive as he dubbed Rubio a lightweight. “Lightweight Marco Rubio…” In one of his
tweets he calls out Rubio for being too much of a sweater, saying that he drank too much water

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when trying to discuss Obama’s State of the Union speech. The attacks on Cruz were actually
more about his wife. Trump retweeted a not so flattering image of Cruz’s wife, Heidi. He also
retweeted another tweet that compared his wife to Cruz’s, starting a very elementary like feud
between himself and Cruz. No apologies were given by either individual after the fight fizzled.
Overall, Trump’s Twitter account is just a place for him to be blunt and getting his
opinion out, to almost eight million people, 24 hours a day. Social Media is definitely changing
the way campaigns are done and how accounts like Trump’s change the way that people view
presidential candidates.
Trump’s Take
In a 1997 interview with CNN Trump stated bluntly, “I think I am too honest to be a
politician.” Trump has no filter and he has no issue with it. He doesn’t see what he is doing as
doing anything wrong, even though a majority of the public thinks that he is. These quotes are
how Trump defines himself:
“I’m a counterpuncher. I can’t hit people who don’t hit me.”
“I’m a dealmaker. I’m the best dealmaker there is.”(CNN)
Instead of apologizing he goes about refocusing the blame or he blames something
unrelated to the comment. This is a very short list of Donald Trump’s “Apologies”:
“Some comments are made as an entertainer. As an entertainer it’s a much different
ballgame.”
“Taken out of context…”
“Just got on with thought…”

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“Faulty earpiece…”
“The young intern apologizes…”
Conclusion
No apologies are given by Trump, yet he is now the 2016 Republican candidate. He is
successful without every saying “I’m sorry.” This is the reason why Neminem Excusat should be
recognized as a form of political apologia, as it is becoming more and more prevalent throughout
politics. If Trump can win a party’s nomination, what is stopping another politician from not
apologizing?

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Works Cited
All News Sources
CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Baltimore Sun
Dates August 2015- April 2016
Tweets
Dates August 2015- April 2016
Late Night Talk Shows
Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Dates August 2015-April 2016
Articles
Abadi, Adina. "The Speech Act of Apology in Political Life." Journal of Pragmatics 14 (1990):
467-87. EBSCO. Web. Fall 2015.
Eisinger, Robert M. "The Political Non-Apology." Social Science and Public Policy (2011): 136-
41. Web. Fall 2015.
Geraghty, Jim. "Donald Trump, Ann Coulter, and 'No Apologies' Conservatism." National
Review 18 Sept. 2015. Print.
Towner, Emil. "What Is Apologia? A Description and History of the Term." Emil Towner. Web.
21 Jan. 2016.