more emotional effect on the reader because they’re the last words their minds process, and thus more bound to resonate with them. After a paragraph that specifically described Trump and Cruz supporters as small-minded and vicious, “shivers” is likely to produce a sense of alertness and possibly fear. Therefore, the word “shivers”, used as both evidence and to build pathos, Bruni appeals to the readers emotions, reinforcing the terrifying truth that there are individuals in America fully supporting Trump and Cruz.
In an effort to appeal to pathos, Bruni effectively uses sentence structure to question the reader’s values and cue the audience to Trump and Cruz’s absurd behavior. Forming a question can build pathos and inform the reader at the
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For Bruni, the way he decided to gain credibility in his opinionated piece was to quote other credible writers. He quotes The Time’s Jennifer Steinhauer, who writes Cruz was “so unpopular that at one point not a single Republican senator would support his demand for a roll-call vote.” This offers another view on the subject, and also adds credibility to Bruni’s argument that even other Republicans don’t particularly like Cruz. Citing a specific example adds a factual element to the argument that it otherwise would not have if Bruni decided not to include it. Furthermore, evidence is further utilized through statistics when Bruni references a Gallup survey that revealed, despite the Republican senator’s resentment of Cruz, 61% of Republican voters approved of Cruz, and that overall he had the best rating of all Republicans. As these statistics serve as evidence, they help validate the logic behind Bruni’s wish to educate the reader on the reality of Trump and Cruz. In this reality, a significant number of voters approve of Cruz, despite members of his own party disapproving. Thus, Bruni uses evidence to show that most Republicans themselves appose Cruz, and then statistics to prove the frightening fact that this doesn’t matter to certain voters, while simultaneously appealing to ethos by establishing