Sophistry
No. 01 Fallacy

Ad Hominem

Attack the person making the argument instead of the argument itself.

A beam of reply cast from a speaker, past an untouched written argument, onto a figure standing to one side. a b
FIG. 1a, the argument as set down, never examined. b, the person, on whom the whole of the reply falls. The dashed line is the reply that was never made.

Illustrative example

"You can't trust her opinion on the budget, she failed her own business twice."

An ad hominem attacks the source of a claim rather than the claim itself. A person’s history, character, or motives can be worth questioning, but they don’t make a specific number or fact wrong on their own.

The tell is a response that never engages with the actual figures or reasoning at all, only with who said them.

A person’s flaws don’t make their arithmetic incorrect. If the argument stands on its own evidence, attacking the messenger doesn’t touch it.

Seen in the wild

Real, sourced instances of this technique in actual public debate.

Examples are chosen for how clearly they show the technique, not for who said it.

Donald Trump

Leans right

2016 Republican presidential candidate

“I never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there.”

September 16, 2015 (CNN Republican primary debate, Reagan Library)CNN Press Room full official debate transcript (opens on the source site)

Watchthe exchange, on video (opens on the site hosting the footage)
Context
Rand Paul had just questioned whether Trump had the temperament to be trusted with nuclear weapons, citing his habit of insulting rivals over their appearance. This was the reply.
Reading
The question was about temperament and nuclear command. The answer is about Paul's face. It also performs the exact behaviour it denies, in the same sentence, which is why the moment is worth watching rather than just reading.

Joe Biden

Leans left

2020 Democratic presidential candidate

“You're a damn liar, man. That's not true, and no one has ever said that. You want to check my shape on, let's do push-ups together, let's run, let's do whatever you want to do, let's take an IQ test.”

December 5, 2019 (campaign town hall, New Hampton, Iowa)NPR report quoting the exchange, corroborated by NBC News and the Washington Post (opens on the source site)

WatchNBC News footage of the full exchange (opens on the site hosting the footage)
Context
At a town hall in New Hampton, Iowa, a retired farmer accused Biden of getting his son a job at Burisma to sell access, and separately said Biden was too old to be president.
Reading
Two attacks on the man rather than on what he said. Whether Hunter Biden was hired for access is a question about a hiring decision, and no amount of push-ups settles it. The IQ-test challenge answers a claim about fitness for office with a claim about the questioner instead.

Know a good example?

Suggest a real, sourced instance of Ad Hominem for this page. Submissions are reviewed before anything is added.

A transcript, a video, or the original post. Every suggestion is checked against its source.

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