Restatement of Purpose

July 16, 2017

Late Sunday morning, halfway through summer and, so far, it’s been a quiet weekend.  Except for a inkling of adjacent turbulence.

Besides the usual discussion about Trump whoppers and congressional greed, this Sunday morning’s talking heads spent some time debating the exact meaning of the words collusion, coordination and treason.

Wow, did not see that coming. I never expected Trump to provoke national discussion of the formal English lexicon. But then again, the language has taken quite a beating lately so defining our terms might be helpful, or even required, since listening to Trump and his minions can lead to serious erosion in meaning.

For instance, just how does one interpret “We had no contact with Russians” when after a few short weeks it means, “We had a little contact with Russia”, but after a few more it means, “Our top leadership met with Russian representatives and we loved it, but there’s nothing so see here”?

Now, I’ve taken a few English courses and try to speak it every chance I get, so I’m aware that over time words can shift meaning. But, shifting the meaning of the phrase “no contact” from, well, no contact to loving contact, in a month seems a stretch, even in the Donald’s soft reality.

On the other hand, perhaps the technical aspects and nuances of the words under consideration may not be nearly as important as the word group: collusion, coordination and treason.

Because, while Trump supporters may attempt to change word meanings and cultural assumptions and while they try to deny what we’ve seen with our eyes, the national discussion right now is collusion, coordination and treason.

And why not, taken together they kind of sound poetic, like they could alliterate well together. Let’s see… Junior’s collusion led to Daddy’s coordination, hence treason. Yeah, works for me.

For two-hundred-fifty days this blog has attempted to describe impressions and feelings regarding the Trump phenomena – nothing more. If you seek hard analysis or news reporting look elsewhere; there are many good sources.

Here the republic looks inward. Sometimes the view is clear; sometimes, like today, we gaze into confusion, lack focus and go nowhere – like a Trump gaslight tweet.  Because that’s how it feels.

Eyes on the prize,
osv