Monday, September 30, 2019

The Best Words – Impeachment Edition



SCROTUS's unusual and sometimes pathological use of language is one of the hallmarks of this person. It's a combination of simpleton language; bullying language (which to his mind is powerful language); and outright pathological language, both in the horrible ways that he talks to people and the neurologically-impaired traits of his language.

I'm a speech and language geek, and I've touched on TЯUMP's language frequently on these pages. Sometimes from a linguistic perspective, sometimes from a speech pathology perspective, and sometimes from a rhetoric perspective. I've also talked about his speech and how his articulation is also intermittently impaired (a definite neurological sign).

I revisit this topic with new data points. Today we focus mostly on the dangerous use of his language, his bellicose, bullying, and this weekend, outright militant rhetoric.

Shortly after the revelations of the whistleblower complaint, he began besmirching this patriot. While still at the United Nations, while the information was still evolving, he likened the whistleblower and "the person who gave him the information" as traitors, and mob-like, menacingly said, “I want to know who’s the person who gave the whistle-blower the information because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right? We used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”

Ah! The good ol' days when spies were executed!

This weekend, Twitler continued the same theme, raging about treason against the whistleblower as well as House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA). Mein Drumpf ramped it up, thumbs working furiously on a bunch o' tweets, saying, "Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called “Whistleblower,” represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way. Then Schiff made up what I actually said by lying to Congress......"

"His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States. I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason....."

"....In addition, I want to meet not only my accuser, who presented SECOND & THIRD HAND INFORMATION, but also the person who illegally gave this information, which was largely incorrect, to the “Whistleblower.” Was this person SPYING on the U.S. President? Big Consequences!"

Tweets are below:


Will someone please remind him that though the whistleblower set things in motion -- which is the very definition of whistleblower – SCROTUS himself handed over the information. Uh, Mr. Clown, Sir? You're right that your conversation was "perfect." YOU and YOU ALONE provided Congress and the People the transcript that "perfectly" illustrates your abuse of power!

And dare we expect him to understand that "facing your accuser" is a guarantee to the accused in criminal court, not during an investigation? If all goes well, that day will come, mister. That day will come.


This dangerous rhetoric puts the whistleblower in real danger. The individual's attorney has voiced his concerns to Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.

There is already a $50,000 "bounty" offered by some conservative activists for the identity of this whistleblower. This of course erodes the important protections that whistleblowers are guaranteed under federal law. Not to mention that this type of language and action chills anyone else who would step up. The whistleblower has reportedly been placed under federal protection. It's extremely important to keep the whistleblower's identity anonymous.

The Rabid Yam's racist, anti-Semitic, and misogynistic rhetoric raised its ugly head in one tweet over the weekend, when he expressed his displeasure about the more than 200 Democratic Members of Congress supporting an impeachment inquiry, by neatly singling out Jewish and women of color lawmakers. Disgusting language and not at all surprising.


But it was last evening when SCROTUS really ramped things up. He alluded to civil war. Here is a man in the highest office in the land threatening civil war if the Congress does not cease its Constitutional duty. One Harvard law professor has asserted that this statement alone is an impeachable offense.


And one type of language he is very good at. Mob Boss talk. I talked about Don Scrotolone in these pages, too. The phone call to President Zelensky illustrated his mastery again. This was plain as day in the phone call's rough transcript. Let the Daily Show with Trevor Noah illustrate this for you.






His rants boil down to a few talking points. Let's play Whistleblower Bingo at his Chopper Talks, in his tweets, and whenever he gets in front of a camera. These points will not vary much; they will just get louder.
  • Second-hand information
  • Phony witch hunt
  • But Hunter Biden!
  • Perfect phone call
  • No pressure
  • Treason/spies

His language becomes more unhinged the more he gets backed into a corner. He turns on his detractors, reducing them to "animals" and "scum" as he did last week referencing members of the press at the same UN breakfast where he called for the assassination of the whistleblower. A couple breaths later he made bizarre claims like, “I just said I’m the most presidential except for possibly Abe Lincoln when he wore the hat — that was tough to beat. Honest Abe, when he wore that hat, that was tough to beat. But I can’t do that, that hat wouldn’t work for me. Yeah, I have better hair than him.”

You just can't make this stuff up!


As for language disorders, he still has trouble thinking of words and phrases. Remember when he talked about the oranges of the Mueller investigation? You could see the wee wheels turning in his head, but those neurons could simply not deliver origins to his mouth.

Something similar happened in his press conference at the United Nations last week. He was addressing the whistle-blower complaint, and he wanted to run through a talking point, that the whistleblower got his information second-hand. You can see him struggle for the phrase "first-hand" in his remarks below (video starts at his struggle).




And the strange tweet about Liddle' Adam Schiff. This is just bizarro, folks.


Compare that to the elegant and concise writing of the whistleblower. The New York Times looks closely at it. Worth the read.


Rest assured, you can count on me, Liddle' Sister Resister, to keep tabs on speech and language issues!


And finally, a couple non-related things.....

As we watch the impeachment unfold, the world turns. Witness checks and balances babeeee!

While we were all a-flutter about impeachment stuff happening, our federal judges were at work, doing what the Judicial Branch does best: Acting as a Check and a Balance!

Nick Anderson


On Friday, two important cases pulled the brakes on the Mango Mussolini's immigrations locomotive.

First, a federal judge blocked SCROTUS's plan to override the Flores Agreement, a rule that protects immigrant children in detention.

A second federal judge stopped his fast-track deportation plan, which would have expanded the policy of allowing deportation without the use of immigration courts. Just before midnight on Friday, an injunction was handed down, forcing the administration to adhere to existing policy.


And finally, because they are brilliant and funny, here is the cast of SNL this past Saturday night.





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