Intention

In his speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Joe Biden intends to present his political agenda and to describe Donald Trump as a failed president. These intentions are connected, as a good part of Biden’s political agenda is meant to repair what Trump has damaged. Biden’s main intention is to convince the audience that they should vote for him in the presidential elections.

Presenting his political agenda 

One of Biden’s main purposes with his speech is to present his political agenda, so that the audience can have a clear view of his political vision. To do so, he builds ethos by describing himself as knowledgeable, as he has served as Vice President under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017: “And speaking of President Obama, a man I was honored to serve alongside for 8 years as Vice President”.

Throughout the speech, Biden talks about the four main crises that dominate the US. He mainly focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and uses a good part of his speech to show how he plans to deal with it:

We'll develop and deploy rapid tests with results available immediately. We'll make the medical supplies and protective equipment our country needs. And we'll make them here in America. So we will never again be at the mercy of China…

Biden also covers the issue of racism in his speech. Biden combines an appeal to pathos with figurative language to show that dealing with racism is deeply important: “It's about winning the heart, and yes, the soul of America. […] Winning it for those communities who have known the injustice of the "knee on the neck"”. Here, Biden, tr...