Slate - great read "We Are in a Linguistic Emergency When It Comes to Trump"

[NRaleighLiberal]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/trump-wants-to-be-called-tough.html

He is getting exactly what he wants.
By LILI LOOFBOUROW

JUNE 14, 20186:09 PM


In the wake of the horrors currently being done to children in America’s name, here’s one thing we can do: Recognize we’re in a linguistic emergency. We have a president whose single-minded praise for macho might is wearing down even those who refuse to overlook his incompetence. Trump, the only presidential candidate to refer to his penis size during a national debate, wants nothing more than to be seen as powerful and manly, and to align himself with those who project the characteristics he desires. And he’s gotten help—from us. If you’ve ever called Trump “tough” on immigration, note that he just called a dictator “tough” for murdering his citizens. (And “very smart” for staying in power.) That should be a wake-up call to journalists responsible for telling the story of this moment: Stop using the words he routinely chooses to describe himself. And think hard about whether you’re accidentally reinforcing the model of power he’s trying to sell.

That change is task one: Sidestep every attempt he and his allies make to equate treating people badly with being strong, because their efforts to link those concepts are working. Neutral outlets are defaulting to his language for what he does—he’s “cracking down” on unions! He’s taking a “hard line“ on the G-7! Driving “hard bargains”! These all position him as powerful, which he loves. The trouble is, it’s wrong. In practice, Trump’s positions slip and slide all over the place. He never got that “hard bargain” he allegedly drove (though he sure got credit for driving it). His deals fall through, his policy shifts depending on whomever he spoke to last. It would be the height of irony if the weakest president on record managed to rebrand himself as the strongman he so badly wants to be.

Big snip - be sure to read it all!


So why doesn’t this happen more? Two reasons: For one, I sense in much of the reporting on Trump a secret fear that maybe we’re missing something. He won, after all. And he keeps insisting that he’s strong despite all the evidence, so maybe there’s something we’re not seeing. This, as many have pointed out, is gaslighting. It’s why he always says he has a plan he won’t describe.

The second reason is that many news organizations still confuse neutrality with accuracy. Better to just report what he says and let the people decide, the thinking goes.

But that’s wrong. And that’s due to the power of language: Simply repeating his fantastical claims makes them seem less fantastical. What a president says usually matters a great deal. But because what Trump says usually bears no relation to the truth (or to what his own policies end up being) it therefore fails to inform the public, and is not worth repeating. He wants to propagate the story of a power he doesn’t have. We shouldn’t help him.

snip = it's all worth reading to go to the link above

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

1. Where's the jobs? And the reduction of the deficit?

Where's those promises fulfilled dt? Funny how he made a hundred promises about all the above, but forgets the jobs and deficit reduction ones. In for a penny in for a pound'. He's such an awful thing to behold. His picture makes me ill. Kind of like the reaction the embassy workers claim they had to hearing some sort of noise deep in their ears.
add....even HE said the jobs numbers "number" every month is horse shit. And it is. 7% unemployed? Yeah, and I eat rocks for breakfast. I'd say at least half the population vastly under employed, and probably 30% truly unemployed. I dunno.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. he is the ultimate carnival barker. snake oil salesman. his sycophants and followers are so easily

duped, brainwashed, low wattage - take your pick.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

3. Yes.

add angry at everyone who isn't. Should've tried harder in school. Hard to fix stupid, but, teachers can do it.

[TheRealNorth]

4. Solution is simple

The media needs to stop letting themselves from being used as a blowhorn and analyze what they say, not just reiterate it.

Nicole Wallace has it 100% correct in this regard to not parrott the liars.

[yonder]

5. Bookmarked for later, thanks

[smirkymonkey]

6. K&R