Trump’s words are not our friends — or his, actually

tool in a democracy? A so-called election.

That’s why I’m optimistic, as we crawl out of the darkest days of the year, that the words Trump has tried to erase, or change the meaning of, will come roaring back to haunt him next year. You can ridicule “the resistance,” as Trump did while urging people to vote for an alleged child predator this month. But that only makes it stronger.

As president, Trump employs the same charlatan’s gibberish that served him well as the owner of a failed casino and a fraudulent “university.” He says “terrific,” “phenomenal” and “incredible” to describe a routine meeting, or someone he just met. His favorite words for those who cross him are “loser,” “moron” and “lightweight.”

Of late, Trump is down to a single best word to describe himself — “I.” He puts it in quotes, just like that. From a tweet in which he was trying to make down into up, on the loss he suffered with the Alabama Senate race, Trump wrote: ‘I also predicted “I” would win.’

Now let’s look at the words the public uses for him. When Americans were asked in a recent survey by Quinnipiac to describe, without prodding, the first word that comes to mind when thinking of Trump, the most common reply was “idiot.” That was followed closely by “liar,” “incompetent” and “moron.”

“Liar,” as applied to Trump, is something that can be quantifiably proven. A mere 4 percent of the president’s public statements — 4 in 100! — have been rated true by PolitiFact.

The words of the year, as put forth by various dictionaries, are reactions to Trump’s awful effect on the culture. “Complicit” was the favored expression from dictionary.com, and also the perfume used in a terrific “Saturday Night Live” sendup of Ivanka Trump. “Youthquake” was Oxford Dictionaries’ nominee. Merriam-Webster chose “feminism.”

The popularity of these vigorous expressions would seem to disprove the great line (and title of a coming film) from the Republican strategist Rick Wilson: “Everything Trump touches dies.” For in 2018, the youthquake, aided by the roused forces of feminism, are going to have a reckoning at the ballot box for those who are complicit with the tyranny of this president. All the best words, deployed.