Human Scum, Lynching and Trumps Tortured English – The New York Times

In a speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, he crowed that were building a wall on the border of New Mexico. And were building a wall in Colorado. He added that were building a wall in Texas, and were not building a wall in Kansas, but they get the benefit of the walls that we just mentioned.

Jared Polis, Colorados governor, responded with a tweet that noted that Colorado doesnt border Mexico. Good thing Colorado now offers free full day kindergarten so our kids can learn basic geography. Trump should join them, not just for stuff about maps but also for the lessons on reading comprehension and the vocabulary-building exercises.

His own recent tweets included that doozy that identified his defense secretary not as Mark Esper but as Mark Esperanto, a mistake too grand to be chalked up to autocorrect. No, its more likely the sign of a haunted mind.

Ive written before that Trump, in terms of the transparency with which he shows us the most eccentric and ugliest parts of himself, may inadvertently be the most honest president in my lifetime. His language is obviously central to that. Its a glimpse into his fury and fears.

It becomes sloppier when hes panicked, more visceral when hes vulnerable, more wildly hyperbolic and wickedly imprecise when hes making a counterfeit show of strength.

Hes in a bad spot now, and perfect reflects that, an adjectival overreach so ludicrous that it doesnt make you rethink the negative (and accurate) interpretations of the phone call; it makes you think Trump has lost his marbles.

Lynching raises the temperature dozens of degrees from hoax and witch hunt, his go-to phrases for Robert Muellers investigation. Human scum is the howl of a trapped animal. And his unfinished thoughts, enigmatic references and sentence fragments reflect his confusion about how to wriggle free.

His torture of English is rooted in the torture of being Trump with all those wants, all that need, all that vanity, all that spite. Hes never eloquent and barely articulate but always expressive, because you say a lot when you say it all wrong.

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Human Scum, Lynching and Trumps Tortured English - The New York Times

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