Our ‘amazing’ era of language without meaning
During Donald Trump’s brief visit to Jerusalem this week he went to Yad Vashem, the emotion- tugging museum devoted to the memory of Holocaust victims. When I was there years ago a young woman wept copious tears as she looked at the exhibits. Her friend said she was a German who had read about the Holocaust but had never felt its enormity till she was surrounded by the appalling evidence.
On his way out, Trump wrote a note in the guest book, using his all-caps style: “IT IS A GREAT HONOR TO BE HERE WITH ALL OF MY FRIENDS — SO AMAZING & WILL NEVER FORGET!”
Like much of what Trump says or writes, it was clumsy and inappropriate. It raised the question of Trump’s language and the careless way he uses words. He has many flaws, but his limited ability to express himself is not the smallest.
For such an occasion the entry in the guest book was oddly chirpy. It was also embarrassingly self-referential. However solemn the event, he couldn’t resist making himself the star, even in a few words of acknowledgment.
Publication of his words drew criticism. When it appeared in the London Independent, a reader commented, “Disneyland or Yad Vashem: his text could be used at both venues. It doesn’t matter where, as long as the Donald is there.” Someone else wrote, “He forgot t he Love, Donald part.”
Of course Trump was tired and busy. But so, probably, was George W. Bush when he visited Yad Vashem in 2008. Bush left just three eloquent words in the same book: “God Bless Israel.”
Trump called Yad Vashem “amazing.” That’s a favourite word. He must use it several times a day, or perhaps several times an hour. When he wants to please, he designates something as amazing. “The evangelicals have been so amazing to me,” he once said. “I’ ve won with evangelicals in many, many states.”
“Many, many states” illustrates another Trumpian verbal tic. He apparently believes repetition strengthens the effect of what he says. In the week of his inauguration he promised Americans ( in tones intended to convey total sincerity) that he would “never, ever, ever” let them down. Speaking about terrorists to an Arab conclave this week, he repeated the phrase “Drive them out!” as if that would somehow persuade his listeners.
Trump’s language is shopworn and trite, whether he’s improvising or reading a speechwriter’s text. When he threatens, he sounds like a guy in a bar. In Jerusalem he mentioned that Iran hopes to destroy Israel. Trump’s response: “Not With Donald J. Trump!” It sounded like a football cheer. Since 1948, many thousands around the world have laboured to keep Israel alive. Yet this one man now puts himself forward as a designated Messiah.
Of all his favourite words, “loser” seems most revealing. It’s mean, an always ready term he uses to take down those he dislikes by placing them in a category from which they can ( he obviously hopes) never escape. Lately, he tends to over- use it. The Manchester atrocity happened when he was in the Middle East and felt called upon to comment. He denounced those responsible as “evil losers.” He said, “I won’t call terrorists monsters, they would like that name. I will call them losers, because that’s what they are.”
Presumably that satisfied him, but was it appropriate? In Manchester, 22 people died and dozens more were seriously i njured. What does it mean when Trump applies to mass murderers a word he usually deploys against journalists or politicians who have annoyed him? It suggests a deficient sense of proportion.
In Jerusalem Trump said the city itself should encourage the settling of disputes. He called on all people involved (“Jews, Christians, Muslims and every faith, every tribe, every creed”) to draw inspiration from Jerusalem “to overcome sectarian differences.” That may have been the most outlandish of all his suggestions. Far from sustaining amity among religions, possession of Jerusalem has been — and remains — a fundamental cause of strife.
Trump’s sense of l anguage appears most distorted when he uses the term “deal.” He’s now decided that with compromise, Israel and Palestinians “can make a deal.” Peace won’t be easy, he concedes, “but Israelis and Palestinians can make a deal.” He believes, after talking with the leaders, that both Palestinians and Israelis want peace.
But their differences run far deeper than anything in Trump’s experience, as anyone knows who has followed the Middle East diplomacy of the last few decades. The word “deal” is pitifully inadequate when describing any possible agreement between Palestinians and Israel. Many have died on each side of the struggle. Many solutions have been suggested. In t he world Trump now occupies, language drawn from his life in business loses its meaning.
(TRUMP) APPARENTLY BELIEVES REPETITION STRENGTHENS THE EFFECT OF WHAT HE SAYS.