“I don’t think I’ve ever said this before. So we do these rallies. They’re massive rallies. Everybody loves, everybody stays till the end. By the way, you know, when she said that, well, your rallies people leave. Honestly, nobody does. And if I saw them leaving, I’d say, ladies and gentlemen make America great again and I’d get the hell out, ok? Because I don’t want people leaving. But I do have to say so I give these long sometimes very complex sentences and paragraphs but they all come together. I do it a lot. I do it with raising cane. That story. I do it with the story on the catapults on the aircraft carriers. I do it with a lot of different stories. When I mentioned Doctor Hannibal Lecter, I’m using that as an example of people that are coming in from Silence of the Lambs. I use it. They say it’s terrible. So they say so I’ll give this long complex area for instance that I talked about a lot of different territory . . . You know, for a town hall, there’s not a lot of people, but the fake news likes to say, the false news likes to say, oh, he was rambling. No, no, that’s not rambling. That’s genius. When you can connect the dots. Now, now, Sarah, if you couldn’t connect the dots, you got a problem. But every dot was connected and many stories were told in that paragraph.”
What does that mean?
Maybe it means, “I sometimes communicate in a long, intricate paragraph that seems rambling and disconnected but is actually quite clear, even eloquent.” If so, Donald Trump could say that, or give us a powerful example.
Trump tries to explain his frequent mentions of Hannibal Lecter. If he succeeded, please translate. Does that 247-word passage “connect all the dots,” such that you get what he’s trying to say?
If your spouse, kid, or boss complains of not being able to follow a communication, don’t you try to communicate the point more clearly? If that’s Trump’s effort to communicate more clearly, it’s a miserable failure. Mr. Trump asserts that he speaks coherently and holds wonderful rallies no one leaves before the end. He doesn’t show us his coherence.
Similarly, if co-workers criticized you, would answer, “I’m a genius?” If, as Trump was, you were making a public appearance in aid of getting a job you really wanted, would you assert “I’m a genius” – like a nine-year-old?
We’ve all known people who brag, at work or on social occasions, about their mental acuity and other virtues and accomplishments. Unless they do so with particular brilliance or humor, or you have no choice, do you seek ‘em out to hear more? Do you even tend to believe them? When someone repeatedly claims wit, wisdom, or beauty, my first guess is that the speaker has serious doubts that s/he measures up. Like a guy who keeps telling you how much all women love him, when you hadn’t really asked. Guys on street corners tell you how great they play ball, but Steph Curry can just say, “Yeah, I’ve been known to hoop a little.”
Reread the opening paragraph. Imagine you don’t know who said it. Is your first guess that this is a wise and articulate speaker or someone whose brains are shot from booze, drugs, or old age. Be honest.
– 30 --
[This column appeared Sunday, 22 September, 2024, in the Las Cruces Sun-News
and will presently appear on the newspaper’s website and on KRWG’s website, under Local Viewpoints. A shortened and sharpened radio commentary version will air during the week on KRWG (90.1 FM) and on KTAL-LP (101.5 FM, streaming at www.lccommunityradio.org/). For further information on the topic of this column, please go to my blog, https://soledadcanyon.blogspot.com/ .]
[Not a lot more to say. There are folks who are inclined to vote for Mr. Trump, because voting Republican is a habit and/or they feel Democrats are too progressive. Unfortunately, aside from whether or not he’s a racist or a felon, or unfairly attacked at times, his own words make it hard to maintain the illusion that he’s even borderline competent to deal with the pressures and problems of the Presidency. All I ask of people of good will who have voted for Trump in the past or are considering voting for him is to read his own words as you would the words of someone applying for an important job with your company or as your high school kid’s words in a time measure, and be honest with yourself about how they stack up. ]
No comments:
Post a Comment