I was watching a news show this morning wherein a linguistics professor was critiquing the speaking style of Donald Trump. It is clear that Trump has at his disposal, the professor explained, but a very limited vocabulary, and this is one reason he will tend to fall back on certain words and phrases, such as "Believe me", or "a very terrible person", or "a nasty woman." It is as if his language development was arrested at around the 5th grade level. He was simply not able to, or never saw any use in developing a wider vocabulary.
You may have had the experience in younger years, as I have, of engaging in a discussion or debate with another person of like age and, upon employing a more advanced word, having that person retort "Oh, big word!" As if you had just forfeited the argument by employing a more sophisticated language. Trump is that little boy, or that little girl, who chose disdain rather than edification. Ignorance, in fact, becomes a matter of pride, as we saw with the deplorables who proudly embraced the term 'deplorable', or indeed as we saw with Trump's recent rejection of the teachings of Jesus at the White House prayer breakfast. Jesus, you see, was a snowflake through and through, with big, fancy ideas like 'love your enemy' and 'feed the poor' and 'shelter those in need'.
Beyond linguistics, however, there is the psychological view. Has anyone noticed, for instance, how sing-song his voice has become? I mean, I watch him go through these stream of consciousness interior monologues in this childish sort of tone and pitch, speaking, it seems, with an imaginary friend who agrees with him without fail. The man seems so clearly disturbed, sort of off on his own planet. It's downright weird, even pitiful. And I wonder how people can fail to see this. And how responsible leaders and representatives can fail to act.
You may have had the experience in younger years, as I have, of engaging in a discussion or debate with another person of like age and, upon employing a more advanced word, having that person retort "Oh, big word!" As if you had just forfeited the argument by employing a more sophisticated language. Trump is that little boy, or that little girl, who chose disdain rather than edification. Ignorance, in fact, becomes a matter of pride, as we saw with the deplorables who proudly embraced the term 'deplorable', or indeed as we saw with Trump's recent rejection of the teachings of Jesus at the White House prayer breakfast. Jesus, you see, was a snowflake through and through, with big, fancy ideas like 'love your enemy' and 'feed the poor' and 'shelter those in need'.
Beyond linguistics, however, there is the psychological view. Has anyone noticed, for instance, how sing-song his voice has become? I mean, I watch him go through these stream of consciousness interior monologues in this childish sort of tone and pitch, speaking, it seems, with an imaginary friend who agrees with him without fail. The man seems so clearly disturbed, sort of off on his own planet. It's downright weird, even pitiful. And I wonder how people can fail to see this. And how responsible leaders and representatives can fail to act.
1 comment:
It certainly is a head scratcher. His loyal 30% base is able to follow his thoughts. The rest of us are just confused.
Post a Comment