Why Elites Lose at Trump’s Language Game

Foreign Policy ^ | September 2, 2016 | Elliott Prasse-Freeman

[2ndDivisionVet]

Trump supporters aren’t brainwashed by the Republican’s candidates “illogical” lies — they're listening to a different conversation altogether.

Much has been made of Donald Trump’s use of language in the 2016 presidential campaign. A recent FP piece even uses linguistic theory to explain his rise. But the authors incorrectly diagnose the complex language play through which Trump constructs his audiences and message. That leads them to echo a refrain of liberal political commentators — namely, that Trump’s supporters blindly adhere to illogical and false conclusions about the world.

More measured linguistic analysis reveals that Trump supporters often explicitly reject the literal meanings of his speech, attending instead to what he indexes or connotes. Trump uses hyperbole, humor, hedging, and repair to take stands — both for or against certain general political programs (immigration, trade deals), but more importantly against certain kinds of scornful elite discourse that belittle those supporters. Understanding that complex conversation, rather than dismissing it out of hand, can help us not only better comprehend the Trump phenomenon but also see why the rest of the world is so flummoxed by his verbiage...

[Jim W N]

As with Reagan, so with Trump, the Left and their minions like FP think that there's no such thing as integrity and sincerity. The Left utterly relies on the what they are trying to attribute to Trump - the idea that, as they say here, if it says something enough times, no matter how disconnected from truth or logic, other people will begin to believe it. So again, as they did with Reagan, the Left thinks Trump is as insincere as they are, doesn't believe a word he says, and is just a demagogue like the Left.

The Left is truly a hopeless bunch.

[Jim W N]

I wouldn't say Trump's language is exactly like the Left's. His tactics in repetition may be the same. But the Left thrives on Orwellian lying rhetoric and political correctness, while Trump talks straight from the hip, the gut, and the heart, the way Reagan did and the way most of us do.

[5th MEB]

I don’t hate them; but I reserve my loving and patience for my wife, my children, and my dogs.
Again; I don’t hate them, I simply want to DESTROY THEM. MENTALLY, EMOTIONALLY, and PHYSICALLY.

[WayneLusvardi]

When Trump was in his more loud, confrontation mode of speech he followed the oratory of the ancient Roman legal consul Cicero to a “T”. His speech was not flippant or hot headed or emotional but a reflection of a very well trained speaker who had been trained in Cicero methods.

Trump has now shifted to the speech method of the Roman emperor Augustus; lower tone, read from a prompter or memorize, and meant to appeal to the Centrist Republicans.

[867V309]

The Elites are all inbred, squat to pee snow flakes.

Elliott Prasse-Freeman. Just rolls off the tongue.

[SaraJohnson]

Liberal Americans understand what Trump is saying. They just don’t like it. It’s nationalist to put America first. They are globalists. He’s politically incorrect and they fully understand what he is saying. They just don’t like political incorrectness. They want total control group-think.

[dearolddad]

Cut through all the crap. Trump just talks like normal people talk. The Left, the MSM, the politicians, and the D.C. Beltway have a Leftist politically-correct language that the rest of us loathe and despise. It isn’t about a Trump language “code.” It’s about ignoring the Leftist PC code.

Short version:Trump will tell you what time it is. A politician will try to tell you how to make a clock.

[Mollypitcher1]

“Telling the truth in a time of universal deceit is a revolutionary act” - Orwell

The truth is so foreign a concept they feel a need to translate it for us.

We recognize it for ourselves.
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Well said and worth repeating.