Trump Speaks Like Regular Folk

[Thumpalumpacus]

Words convey ideas. If your ideas can be conveyed by such an uneducated vocabulary, what does that say about those ideas?

That's a very elitist thing to say. Many ordinary people have exceptionally good ideas even if they cannot express them very well. One of my friends runs a multi-million dollar construction company. Smart guy. But put him on a stage and he'd collapse like a folding chair in a hurricane.

Which has nothing to do with language and everything to do with stage presence -- two very different things. But I myself have higher expectations for someone who aspires to represent me and my country on the world stage. I expect him to think before he speaks. I expect him to not fold "like a chair" when challenged to express himself on a higher level than Joe Q. Public.

If that's "elitist" to you, oh well. The world is a china shop, and it sure doesn't need one more bull ... with the attendant bullshit.

Intelligence is not enough. The ability to express oneself intelligently is also required, in my view. Can you discuss Euclidean geometry without mentioning axioms? Can you talk about nuclear-weapon usage without using words like "circular error of probability?" Can you discuss Shakespearean language without talking about early-modern English?

It isn't "elitist" to speak in terms requisite to the context of things. It's required.

Further, in diplomacy, connotations and implications -- nuance -- is very important.

Then hire a press secretary and appoint diplomats. Trump's approach isn't much different than Khrushchev's when he banged his shoe in the UN and shouted "We will bury you!" (Yes, I just compared Trump to a totalitarian leader. Interpret that how you will). My point is that hyperbole is for public consumption. The real work is not done from podiums but in backrooms.

Do you know what happens when you send a press secretary to a summit meeting? That's right, you tender offense and sabotage the discussion by sending a subordinate.

You're a businessman, Chad. If you were wanting to let a contract for supplies and the supplier sent a flunkie not empowered to make a decision, how would that affect your view of the negotiation?

I don't think you're thinking this through.