it's difficult to spot the logical fallacies politicians use all the time many are educated and trained on how best to answer a question or phrase an argument often that means using tricks of the trade with thinly veiled logical fallacies unfortunately this doesn't do anyone any good to make sound decisions people need sound arguments making decisions off of bad logic usually leads to terrible consequences regardless all politicians know logical fallacies are effective in fooling the electorate and dodging uncomfortable questions that can hurt their campaigns they'll never stop using them so you might as well learn and know how to spot them put on their thinking caps because I'm Mike with lose twenty five and here are twenty five logical fallacies politicians use more than you realize and don't worry we cover politicians across the spectrum [Music] twenty five equivalent the fallacy of equivocation is when someone states a phrase of an argument in an ambiguous way with one meaning in one part of the argument and another meaning in another part of the argument Donald Trump has used this countless times often contradicting himself in hopes he'll confuse and appeal to everyone for instance when accusing Hillary Clinton's donors of tax evasion he said so do all over donors or most over donors I know many of her donors her donors took massive tax write-offs 24:00 fallacy of sunk costs politicians will often plead that the fallacy of sunk costs when a big investment has been placed into a certain project arguing that since so much has already been invested we need to see it through often politicians will use this logic regarding war including the Vietnam War the war in Iraq and Afghanistan but large investments in a bad project doesn't justify putting more investments into a bad project 23 to quote way from the Latin for you to this logical fallacy deflects arguments away by trying to blame their opponent of the same thing when accused of something politicians use this fallacy to call out hypocrisy but the fallacy doesn't answer the initial argument or question for instance when Donald Trump was asked what he thought of the Pope saying he wasn't a Christian Trump replied and he also talked about having a wall as not Christian and he's got an awfully big wall at the Vatican 22 ableism this logical fallacy argues that if someone is intellectually slower less ambitious less aggressive physically or emotionally less capable then they deserve less in life and can be freely victimized by their supposed superiors on the campaign trail Donald Trump appealed the ableism by mocking a disabled reporter and saying Hillary Clinton had lower energy than Jeb Bush 21 post-hoc this logical fallacy is the Latin a short form of post hoc ergo propter hoc or after this therefore because of this and it's used all the time by politicians most often the politicians out of power will argue if something is bad the blame goes to the politician in power for instance Mitt Romney claimed because the economy is bad it's President Obama's fault correlation does not mean causation 20 appeal to fear also known as scare tactics fear is a powerful motivator which is why politicians have used it for centuries but ultimately it's bad logic and can lead to devastating results examples abound of politicians using this logical fallacy including Alf Hitler's demonization of the Jewish people McCarthyism Shred scare fear tactics used after 9/11 and recently the fear tactics used against immigrants and refugees 19 begging the question this logical fallacy is a circular argument that says a is true because a is true it's used all the time but it can be tricky to detect for instance when arguing about the public option senator Kent Conrad said we can't have a public option because if we do health care reform won't get the votes from senators like him 18 circumstantial ad hominem also called appeal to motive this fallacy is a type of ad hominem attack that questions the person's motive it tries to invalidate the person but doesn't address the logical argument it would be like if the discussion was about the oil industry and a politician said of course he supports more drilling he used to be an oil CEO 17 non sequitur this logical fallacy means it does not follow and is a false argument with a conclusion that doesn't follow the premise for instance in one of Donald Trump's tweets he wrote I did what was almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican easily won the electoral college now tax returns are brought up again releasing tax returns that has nothing to do with winning the electoral college 16 argumentum odd crew manam also known as Appeal to wealth this fallacy points to wealth or money as an indicator of truth being right or intelligence in his 2016 campaign at Donald Trump frequently pointed to his wealth to prove he's both successful and trustworthy 15 poopoo fallacy don't laugh that's the actual name of the fallacy it's a fairly simple fallacy of dismissing an argument accusation or statement as not worthy of serious consideration when Barack Obama was asked to respond to Sarah Palin's criticism of his pledge not to strike non-nuclear nations with nuclear weapons he replied I really have no response to that the last I checked Sarah Palin isn't much of an expert on nuclear issues 14 dicto simpliciter from the latin from a saying without qualification this is a sweeping generalization of fallacy that doesn't qualify its arguments for instance Ted Cruz in an attack on his rival Donald Trump claimed that Trump represented New York values and that quote everybody understands that the values New York City are socially liberal and pro-abortion and pro gay marriage and focus on money and the media 13 cherry-picking pretty much everyone knows this fallacy is very common in politics to make themselves look better politicians will pick the facts that make themselves look better and ignore the contradicting evidence for instance the Democratic opponent of Senator Richard burr claimed that in 2012 burr voted no on the Violence Against Women Act while true in that case it ignored the three other times burr voted for its reauthorization twelve adver kun diem this latin phrase means argument from Authority in the political world it's usually used toward politicians that came before like Ronald Reagan or the founding fathers or an expert group that does Studies on a particular topic but it never actually addresses the main issue for instance Barack Obama appealed to Authority when he said you do not have to take my word for it just today an independent nonpartisan organization ran all the numbers on Governor Romney's plan this wasn't my staff this wasn't something we did an independent group ran the numbers 11 ad Misericordia also known as the appeal to pity fallacy this false argument distracts from the topic at hand by using emotion and making a case sympathetic Barak Obama used this tactic in a speech to Congress to sway them on the gun debate saying the families of Oak Creek and Tucson and Blacksburg and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence they deserve a simple vote they deserve a simple vote 10 ad ignore an tiem latin for appeal to ignorance this logical fallacy states that a statement must be true if it can't be proven false or vice-versa in 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy was asked about 81 names and their connections to communism he claimed I do not have much information on this except the general statement of the agency that there is nothing in the files to disprove his communist connections sadly people bought into this fallacy at the time and ruined many lives 9 ad in ticket item this logical fallacy is also called appealing to tradition and typically argues that something must be true because it's been that way for years for instance arguing against same-sex marriage Rick Santorum stated marriage is and has always been through human history a union of a man and woman other politicians under the banner of this Tea Party movement based their entire political movement on this logical fallacy appealing to tradition and pointing back to the American Founding Fathers eight false equivalence this logical fallacy tries to falsely equate one thing with another usually generalizing blowing things out of proportion and attempting to demonize something or someone it's fairly easy to do and sometimes can be complicated to discern because there's a fine line between comparing and ik waiting back during the days of the Soviet Union for instance American reactionaries equated the u.s. with the Soviet Union because of the way political dissidents were treated 7 ad populum also called and appealed to numbers this fallacy is similar to appealing to Authority and occurs when someone points to sheer numbers of people to back up their claims or their own Authority in regards to health care Bernie Sanders argues we need to join the rest of the industrialized world we are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right six false dilemma also called a false dichotomy this fallacy suppresses options and evidence and looks something like this either A or B is true a a is not true therefore B is true George W Bush famously stated in a speech to Congress that every nation has a decision to make either they are with us or with the terrorists v straw man argument one of the most famous of all logical fallacies it's when someone that distorts exaggerates or misrepresents another's argument or position it's often used to confuse and distract the audience political attack ads regularly use these logical fallacies to smear an opponent in the 2016 presidential campaign Donald Trump claimed Hillary wanted open borders twisting her position in a speech she gave to a Brazilian bank for slippery slope also known as the Domino fallacy this false argument claims that once one action is taken additional consequences will follow down a slippery slope into some unforeseen destruction as such it's usually used as a fear tactic a classic example of this was President Eisenhower's domino theory where he claimed that if one country in Southeast Asia Falls to communism the rest will follow three ad nauseam with this fallacy also called argument by repetition someone will keep repeating the same argument or statement as if it were true over and over again of course we all know how endlessly repeating a statement or argument does not make it true while this is a good advertising trick it's still a fallacy and one of Donald Trump's favorites in one of many examples he stated to be honest I inherited a mess it's a mess at home and abroad a mess too red herring also called a decoy the red herring fallacy draws attention away from the main topic question or argument focusing instead on something else sometimes it can be thinly veiled and tricky to point out in a 2000 debate george w bush was accused of breaking his pledge to not raise taxes as governor of texas in 1994 he was asked if that accusation was accurate rather than addressing it he said he provided the largest tax cut in Texas history in 1997 one ad-hominem translating as against the man this fallacy is an abusive personal attack on an individual rather than the logic or premise of the argument itself it's a popular all too common fallacy that has recently been used overwhelmingly by President Donald Trump when speaking about Jeb Bush Trump called him a basket case dumb as a rock loser and weak and low-energy and that's just the tip of the iceberg so do you know of any other logical fallacies politicians use let us know in the comments below or tweet your answer to us at least 25 enjoying our lists be sure to click that subscribe button on the bottom right and the notification bell so you don't miss out on new ones every Monday through Friday share them with friends and help us consistently conciliate 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