[Jim Moonan]

I hesitate to disturb the nest… We’ve done so well of late at holding our political tongues here on the General Board.

All I want to do with this thread is focus on/expose Trump’s lack of ability to express himself using the spoken word – something he declared he was “the best” at doing:

https://youtu.be/0T-Eo0j092Q

And something that we know something about, presumably, here on the Sphere.

I am continually flummoxed by the incredibly poor quality of his messages – not the message content – the grammatical construction of the message. And he has a team of linguists and writers at his disposal! I’m talking specifically about sentence construction and word choice – nothing else. It’s appalling. Made all the more appalling by the fact that he doesn’t seem to be aware that we’re aware that he is not aware that he is verbally, pathetically ill-equipped to represent the office he holds based on his use of language alone.

Here's a miniscule example:
(From his tax reform speech) “…A tax bill that will give middle class taxpayers finally, finally, finally and want to deserve.” W.T.F?

[James Brancheau]

Yeah, that could certainly be an indication that he's just mentally gone. Which I think he is. (I'm amazed at how many commentators, liberal and conservative, attribute his behavior to some overall strategy. They, along with anyone associated with that thing, should never be taken seriously again. Actually, if you voted for Trump, you should lose your voting rights for at least 10 years.) I was as likely to get slapped for saying "ain't" as a swear word (I think there's a class thing going on there)... I digress, as usual. I guess I want to say that I could handle a good illiterate person as president. Someone who couldn't put a sentence together, but who was responsible and had the very human characteristic of empathy.

[Jim Moonan]

This thread may be doomed because who want's to dig through Trump's tweets, speeches, declarations, etc. and extract examples of his pathetic command of the English language?

Two days ago he was giving a press conference with the prime minister (whom he repeatedly called Mr. President – not a big deal, but seriously…) of Spain at the WH:

On North Korea: “…And we're replying to those things, but it's a reply. It's not an original statement; it's a reply.” WTF?

In reference to the split between Spain and Catalonia: “…Because you're talking about staying with a truly great, beautiful, and very historic country.” WTF?

These two examples pale in comparison to others. I just can't put my fingers on them at the moment. It’s impossible to document all his grammatical gaffes. That’s my point. It’s as if we have Mr. Bean for a president. (Clearly Trump is far worse than Mr. Bean, but you get what I mean). I guess the bottom line is that it's a reflection of his insipid understanding of the issues we're facing.

For me it’s come down to being nearlyunable to listen to his voice. He is no doubt in over his head. I think that fact exacerbates his poor command of the language.
To your point about preferring a president good with actions to one who is good with words, leadership is a combination of both. If you don’t have command of the language, use your writers and anything else at your disposal. But he doesn’t think he needs that kind of help. Thank God for that. Having the façade of good speech writers to hide behind would make it more difficult to expose him. And even when he does he goes off script/over the cliff.

Anyway. He’s a pariah to me.

[John Isbell]

I think the Namibian head of state was standing nearby when DT twice referred to his country as Nambia. That is a quick way to demonstrate utter lack of interest. This sort of thing he does routinely: he got the Australian PM's name wrong while on the phone with him, the press reported.
All this does no favors to our State Department. But the only thing DT wants to build, as far as I can tell, is a big beautiful wall.

Cheers,
John

[James Brancheau]

I don't think you need to dig. Don't want to hijack the thread, but he's a very real danger. But I don't think his English ability much enters into it, if that makes sense.

[Jim Moonan]

I have faith that, when the time comes, if it comes (it's possible that he will sustain so much damage from all quarters that he could just limp along, languishing in failures, ostracized, a failed dotard president, until the end of his term. I have a dream.) that we the people will oust him through the back door of the Constitution.

[Jim Moonan]

In this thread I'm more interested in his inability to speak in complete sentences. There are so many other flaws (yes I'm being polite) we could identify and I think we've done that in previous threads.

So all I wanted to do was crit his grammar. It's gotten that bad in my head. : )

[John Whitworth]

Oh come. If we are to be taken to task for the grammatical construction of what we say, then who shall scape whipping?

No a nice man, but then Presidents rarely are. Post war only Truman and Reagan I would think.

How many of us know where Nambia (sic) actually is?

[Mary McLean]

I spent a week in Namibia. It's one of the most delightful places I've been.

The problem is that Trump in the 80s would have scaped whipping. There is a strong likelihood that the current condition of his speech is an indication of dementia. I have every sympathy for people in that condition, but I don't want them leading America.

[John Isbell]

Mary: I spent a week in Namibia. It's one of the most delightful places I've been.

Yes, but John asks where is Nambia? Perhaps past the second star to the right?

Cheers,
John