Why Doesn’t Anyone Care That The President Is Not Well Spoken?
How are you just okay with that?
Frankly, what does that say about us?
If I were to meet President Trump, upon the greeting and the formal exchange of pleasantries, my immediate remark would be that I believe your reputation precedes you, and this lasting first impression has made an indelible impact and an unwavering belief from the depths within your support. How do you reconcile this with a majority outside of the electoral college vote of Americans — whose view of your first 100 days thus far is very disconcerting — as evidenced by recent political polls?
I guarantee you his response will be incoherent, but bombastic; expressive, but verbose; flamboyant, yet inelegant.
The person charged with our national security, our economic prosperity, our green environment and our national unity is unabashedly inarticulate. Trump’s ineptitude, if for no other reason, is quite apparent in his limited vocabulary. It is a widely held assumption in which many people tend to use to determine as a sign of competence, yet many seem to concede as a forgone conclusion.
A conclusion that was preceded by a reputation surrounding a magnate status of wealth — primarily in real estate holdings and underscored by celebrity. However, this reputation also has me concussed by the veracity of his story (all four filed bankruptcies in all) and the means to which he has risen to such heights in our society and in our lives as President of the United States. A Matthew Effect of epic proportions.
Some people have remarked that certain positions of influence and visibility have been filled conspicuously by an affirmative action commitment to equality that counter a traditionally held negative discrimination. But even the applicant had been more than credentialed and overqualified to perform at a minimum. I am not sure what the case is here.
The method of speaking President Trump employs is a rallying cry performance which may explain why his campaign speeches are bemusing to say the least. However, nothing has changed since entering the White House. In speaking on many topics, the rallying cry, the authoritarian, and narcissistic tone has not let up. No one seems to mind really, except for Anti-Trumpers.
Alternate facts and reality suggests that it is not them, its us.
Linguists have gone on record to suggest that we shouldn’t look textually to what the President says, we need only audio or audio-visualize it in order to make sense of this. I do not agree as I get lost watching and listening to him on many occasions. But no one seems to really catch or mind it at all. Its as if we are not to take anything he says literally. But Why!?!
Yeah, but why is this okay coming from the President though? Mark Liberman, a University of Pennsylvania linguist explains it on his blog further by essentially stating that Trump’s general speaking style is comprehensible in terms of overall effect as a public speaker, even though “he doesn’t speak in conventionally coherent textual paragraphs”.
So forget all this prior mandatory elementary school education stuff you might have picked up earlier on for reading comprehension and speaking as well as any subsequent education on communication. You obviously don’t need it.
Which I guess gives credence to this thing that Trump supporters are apt to say, ‘Trump tells it like it is’.
No, he doesn’t.
Trump has either lied, misspoke, or falsified information on many occasions. To tell it like it is there needs to be a great deal of truth attached to it. We need to come to grips with many truths for our own good. Especially if we are going to get through the next four years unscathed by the misleading, misapprehension and any imminent missteps and misconduct by this White House. But first we need to acknowledge and prioritize the truth in accountability — that we deserve better from our President.
