Gish-Galloping Away: The Right’s Favorite Rhetorical Strategy
Wikipedia defines Gish gallop as follows:
A rhetorical technique in which a debater attempts to overwhelm an opponent by an excessive number of arguments, without regard for the accuracy or strength of those arguments. The term was coined by Eugenie Scott, who named it after Duane Gish. Scott argued that Gish used the technique frequently when challenging the scientific fact of evolution.
This technique has traditionally been considered most effective during a formal debate in which two participants make arguments and rebuttals in alternation, with a time limit on each segment.
During a Gish gallop, a debater confronts an opponent with a rapid series of many specious arguments, half-truths, and misrepresentations in a short space of time, which makes it impossible for the opponent to refute all of them within the format of a formal debate. In practice, each point raised by the “Gish galloper” takes considerably more time to refute or fact-check than it did to state in the first place. The technique wastes an opponent’s time and may cast doubt on the opponent’s debating ability for an audience unfamiliar with the technique, especially if no independent fact-checking is involved or if the audience has limited knowledge of the topics.
However, a tactic developed for formal debate on a single topic can easily be expanded to serve as a general strategy in the service of a broader agenda. Any political, social, or religious interest group can adopt the gallop as their collective modus operandi. At all times and in all venues, just let fly with a torrent of facts, factoids, “alternative” facts, faux-facts, logical fallacies, and outright falsehoods, leaving the opposition — and the media — gasping for breath and wondering which half-truth, twisted argument, or vicious lie to address first.
Of course, Gish galloping has been around for quite a while (the term was coined in the 1990s), and members of both parties have been known to engage in this deceitful strategy. But it is the current GOP and its fellow-travelers (including the Tea Party, the MAGA crowd, the Proud Boys, etc.) who have fully embraced it and elevated it to an art (of sorts). Consider, for example, the following Gish-galloping gusher delivered by former President Donald Trump at a recent rally, as Congress debated the Democrats’ proposed $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill:
“What they are going to do by passing this thing that’s going to kill our nation,” Trump told a crowd of applauding supporters. “All Americans of common sense — Republican, Democrat, and independent — must stand firm and you must really stand strong and firm against Biden, crazy Nancy Pelosi. She’s a nut job. And the extreme power grab. We must declare with one united voice that we cannot allow America to ever become a socialist country. That’s what they’re doing. And I really think it’s a step beyond. I think it’s going to be a communist country,” Trump said before saying that American voters will never allow that to happen. “The Democrat bill, contains billions and billions of dollars for unlawful government training programs inspired by toxic and bigoted, Critical Race Theory. It’s crammed with so-called equity provisions. You know what equity means? It means we will take it away from you and give it to other people,” Trump continued. “This bill is a sinister combination of job killing tax hikes and woke fascism that will destroy our nation.” Trump said the Biden administration was “also giving the IRS the power to destroy people like they tried to do with the Tea Party, Christian organizations and just like they have done to me. It is 9% infrastructure. The rest is Green New Deal garbage that you might as well just throw it out, put it in the wastepaper basket … trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars — more than anybody’s ever conceived of, most of it for junk programs that will only hurt our country,” he claimed. (Donald Trump, Des Moines, Iowa, 9 October 2021.)
This is Gish galloping on a grand scale. Where to begin? Just try coming up with a rational, organized rebuttal to this wild string of accusations: Democrats are socialists. They are communists. They are fascists. Nancy Pelosi is crazy. The Biden administration promotes unlawful policies. They want to destroy Christian organizations. They want to take away what’s yours and give it to someone else. This bill is an extreme power grab. Only 9% of it is really for infrastructure. The bill is sinister and bigoted. It will kill jobs. It will destroy our nation!!
Of course, most of Donald Trump’s spoken and written communication has always been either (a) pure gibberish that even his most ardent followers struggle to parse, or (b) Gish gallops featuring twisted logic, facts and stats made up on the fly, casual lies, dog-whistle bigotry, and personal smears. But if Trump may be seen as the King of Gish, Kellyanne Conway is surely its uncontested Queen. Both as White House press secretary and as a frequent guest on network and cable news programs, Conway always came prepared with her prepared Gish script and simply talked over any journalist or host who tried to interrupt her spiel. Here she is on Meet the Press in January 2017, batting away Chuck Todd’s question about why Trump appeared to be so obsessed with the size of the crowd at his inauguration:
“Chuck, the president did many things yesterday and the day before that are very meaningful to America. He signed executive orders to stop Obamacare and all of its problems. Many people have lost their — Millions of people have lost their insurance, their doctors, their plans. So that stops right now.
“He’s going to replace it with something much more free-market and patient-centric in nature. And on this matter of crowd size, I mean, for me I think the most quantifiable points of interest for Americans should be what just happened a few months ago that brought him here, the 31 of 50 states he won, the 2,600 counties, the 200 counties that went for President Obama that now went to President Trump. And the fact that 29, 30 million women voted for Donald Trump for president. They should be respected. Somebody should cover their voices as well.
“I’m about things that are quantifiable and important. I don’t think that — I don’t think ultimately presidents are judged by crowd sizes at their inauguration. I think they’re judged by their accomplishments. And we know that President Obama and his accomplishments, that there’s a lot of unfinished business there.
“And on this matter of crowd size I think it is a symbol for the unfair and incomplete treatment that this president often receives. I’m very heartened to see Nielsen just came out with the ratings, 31 million people watching the inauguration. President Obama had 20.5 million watching his second inauguration four short years ago. So we know people are also watching the inauguration on different screens and in different modes. And that there was, I mean, for me there was a prediction of a downpour of rain. I think that deterred many people from coming. But no question there were hundreds of thousands of people out on the mall and –”
Todd interrupted several times to no avail and finally observed, “You did not answer the question.” “Yes I did,” snapped Conway.
Not all those who dish the Gish are as befuddled as Trump, or as irascible as Conway. For a smarmier approach — including ham-handed references to popular culture — listen to Ted Cruz, junior Senator from Texas, at the 2021 meeting of CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference):
“We are gathered in dark times. We’re gathered at a time where the hard left, where the socialists control the levers of government, where they control the White House, where they control every executive branch, where they control both houses of Congress. Bernie is wearing mittens, and AOC is telling us she was murdered.
“And the media desperately, desperately, desperately wants to see a Republican civil war. Liberty is under assault, and what are we going to do? I’ll tell you, we will fight.
Listen to William Wallace, and let me tell you, the media here looks at the men and women gathered here, at the young people gathered here, as dangerous radicals. This is the Rebel Alliance and Vader and the emperor, and let’s be clear, they’re not your father, are terrified of the rebels who are here. And I’m proud to tell you, Gina Carano is standing with us.
“So what do we do? What do we do at a time where the hard left is resurgent. Two very simple things, number one, we defend liberty. Look, are there tensions in our party? Sure. Because we believe in diversity, we believe in individuality, different people have different views. We aren’t the Borg enforcing… Okay, I may have committed a cardinal sin, mixing Star Wars and Star Trek. Next thing you know, you’re going to cross the streams and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is going to come. Too many terrible references there. We don’t believe in uniformity. But I’ll tell you what can unite conservatives and libertarians and those who value the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is a love of liberty. New York sending people in to shut down parks and to throw young Orthodox Jewish kids out of the parks because God forbid children have fun.”
Somewhere in that long salvo, between Braveheart and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, we learn that Democrats are socialists, that the media represent the Evil Empire, that the GOP is the party of diversity, that they love liberty and the U.S. Constitution, and that New York City (why not “Gotham,” Senator?) is targeting Orthodox Jewish children… and fun.
How should we respond to the Gish gallop, and to the dangerous assault on rational discourse it represents? As observed in the Wikipedia entry quoted above, those on the receiving end of a gallop rarely have the time to address each component of the tirade. Even the best-informed journalist or political opponent cannot be expected to catch and correct every piece of misinformation, or refute every bad-faith argument, covering a wide variety of topics. Even attempting to do so puts one in the hapless position of a streetcleaner with a broom and shovel, forced to plod back and forth across the pavement and sweet up every piece of trash, debris, and excrement in sight.
But with major elections coming up in 2022 and 2024 — and with the American Right so fully wedded to the Gish gallop — surely we ought to try to come up with some counter-strategies.
During political debates, a responsible moderator should not hesitate to interrupt an offender with: “Sir/ Madam, you are Gish-galloping. If the next words out of your mouth do not directly address the question, your microphone will be muted for the remainder of this event.”
If the moderator is not brave enough (or quick enough) to intervene before the galloper’s allotted time has elapsed, how should the opponent respond? First and foremost, don’t get duped into the role of streetcleaner. Here’s an idea: Short pause. Short chuckle with a shake of the head. Then: “Well, that was quite a Gish gallop you just served up to the American people. Since I have more respect for them than you apparently do, I’m going to speak seriously about one very important issue that you mention only in passing…” Then proceed to hit hard on the subject about which you’re best informed and most passionate. In other words, don’t play defense. Take control.
Perhaps audiences at debates, rallies, town-hall meetings and so forth could break into a loud chorus of “Gish! Gish! Gish!” thereby drowning out the galloper. Hey, I’m not kidding! It makes a great one-syllable chant.
Meanwhile, like debate moderators, the hosts of the Sunday morning talk shows and other news programs really need to stop sitting on their thumbs. There’s no excuse for an interviewer to allow a Gish galloper to rant on unchallenged, and then simply smile and turn to the next guest. I’m pleased to see that a few of these hosts are standing up to guests who show up not to answer questions but to rehearse their next campaign ad. The rules of civility do not require — in fact, do not permit — members of a free press to tolerate chicanery and contempt from those whose agenda represents a dire threat to our democratic Republic.
As for the rest of us sitting here at home: Let us remember Wikipedia’s observation that the Gish gallop is most effective if the audience has limited knowledge of the topics. Too many Americans remain uninformed on the issues and on the mechanisms of our government. None of us can become an expert on everything, but each of us can devote some time and attention to increasing our knowledge on the topics of most interest to us.
The Right is counting on Gish galloping to confuse, frighten, or perhaps simply bore the American majority into silence. Let’s disappoint them.
