If you are a seasoned consumer of the various communications from President Donald Trump, you are familiar with his signature speaking style. Even if the sentences are not always complete, he leaves a lasting impact. Another recurring theme in his political speeches and publicity moments is his frequent use of props. While it can sometimes feel like watching an infomercial for a blender at 5 a.m., there is actually real rhetorical power behind the objects and people Trump chooses to employ as props, and neuroscience backs it up.
Trump's Ballroom Plans and Poster Props
As the president continues to expound the virtues of his ballroom plans, it is not uncommon to see him flanked by posters depicting the floor plan, features, or design elements he is pushing for. Most recently, on Tuesday, the president was seen gesturing with his posters while giving the press a glimpse of the build in progress.
Props in Politics: A Longstanding Tradition
Obviously, props in politics are not solely a Trumpian phenomenon. There are numerous cases of props being used in politics over the years, both before and after Trump's arrival on the scene. There are the silly props of the filibuster age, such as Ted Cruz reading Dr. Seuss on the Senate floor to oppose the Affordable Care Act in 2013, and more solemn props like President Barack Obama famously drinking filtered water from Flint, Michigan, amid the ongoing contamination crisis. Whole studies have been dedicated to how other leaders, like Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, use props to bolster their rhetoric.
According to Patti Wood, a body language and nonverbal communication expert and author of "SNAP: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma," props play a unique role in persuasion theory by helping access the parts of an audience's brain needed to get their point across.
The Neuroscience Behind Props
"Objects affect the brain in a totally different way, specifically the limbic brain, that primitive brain," Wood said. "That increases the speed in which we process it. If someone sees a prop, it hits their limbic brain, they will see it faster and it hits them emotionally." That speed is notably fast, with an MIT study from 2014 finding that the human brain can process images in as little as 13 milliseconds. It helps even more when other senses are involved, such as tactile, auditory, kinesthetic, or scent cues, which can fast-track getting the desired response.
Targeting the emotions allows the points being made, even those less effective in terms of facts, logic, and data, to reach audiences in a way that is more "visceral," Wood noted. "Using props does help reach a different audience in a different way," she continued. "Typically, in a regular speech, the audience retains 10 to 25 percent of information shared, not more than 25 percent in just a stated speech with words. But props increase not only the attention but the retention."
Trump's Unique Prop Style
Just because props are not new to politics, especially in the digital attention economy, does not mean Trump's particular style is not an outlier. A few of his highlights include binders of "Epstein files" prepared for influencers, riffing with a binder clip while discussing his "365 Wins in 365 Days," using a garbage truck to attack Joe Biden over comments about Puerto Rico, "making fries" at a McDonald's, and various photo ops featuring hard paper copies of documents with his signature.
To Wood, it is clear that Trump really enjoys his props. They work to assist him in his delivery, and as a body language expert, she notes he is visibly delighted by them. "They know the power of the props, they plan the props, and Trump likes to see the emotional effect of his presentations. He gets fed by that and that makes him speak better in those moments," Wood said. "I can see his nonverbal communication; he delights and smiles when the props are on the table, when he is holding a prop. He really enjoys it."
Flipping the Narrative with Branded Props
Moments such as the infamous "steak infomercial" event in 2016 also stand out. After winning the Michigan and Mississippi primaries, Trump celebrated his victories at the Trump National Golf Club, flanked by Trump-branded bottled water, wine, and steaks, all while dealing with a complicated legal battle over fraud involving Trump University. These moments exemplify Trump "flipping the narrative" and bolstering the brand he has been steadfastly building. "He was using all the physical props of his business behind him, even though some of them were failures, to show his business acumen and credibility," Wood said. "The prop becomes a replacement for facts. That is not a benefit, but it is a power."
People as Props
People can notably be props too, and Trump has had more than his fair share of those moments, from the use of Gen. Mark Milley in photos taken outside St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., after federal police used rubber bullets and tear gas on a crowd of peaceful protesters in June 2020. "A lot of times, his team is having a sense of humor about the props," Wood said. "But the people who have not seen him interact with a prop before often look uncomfortable. Like Milley. He was so horrifically uncomfortable."
Props as Brand Artifacts
One thing Trump is fairly successful at doing with a prop is making it a part of his brand. Trump's brand-building is incredibly strong, from his uniform of a blue suit, red tie, and white shirt to the catchphrases and verbal quirks that have defined his entertainment and political careers. Wood said Trump is particularly good at integrating his props into "artifacts" that stick the rhetorical landing he is shooting for with his base and work their way into his identifiable brand. She cites the bandage he wore following the 2024 assassination attempt, which famously had other Republicans sporting ear bandages in solidarity. "It has duality of power because there is some part of our brain that always remembers him with the bandage on him. It becomes permanent, an artifact and part of the brand."
Simplifying Complex Concepts
Another memorable moment was when Trump famously used large and small containers of Tic Tacs to attempt to demonstrate his plans to combat inflation. It is an example of how Trump uses visuals to simplify concepts, even if not factual, in a way that pleases his base. "The complex concept was inflation. He was saying he was going to reduce inflation, so you do not have the small container of Tic Tacs," Wood said. "It makes it easier for even someone who cannot read to comprehend what Trump is saying because it simplifies it so much." These oversimplifications can often get messy when facts, data, and policy are examined too closely, but Trump and his team are likely aware that their base is not going to do that. The memetic shorthand of the Tic Tacs and the nature of the comments are able to linger in the memory. "His people know that people are not necessarily going to read a heavy-duty article on how he is going to affect inflation, but they will remember the Tic Tacs," Wood said. "Things are turned into memes. The meme of the prop becomes the memorable message."
