Tuesday, September 15, 2015

The Way Donald Talks

When I was very much younger I went through a "write like Hemingway" phase where I tried to keep my writing short and simple. I went so far as to analyze my writing using a readability calculator. This is an abysmally stupid way to write and, thankfully, I outgrew the phase.
Donald Trump's speaking style is bizarre. While Sarah Palin may talk in a convoluted word salad, Trump's speeches are word deserts. His most commonly used word is the shortest word in the English language - I. His sentences are often minified, short and verbless.  He wanders off and gets lost in random non sequiturs like a drunken field mouse.

I ran his announcement speech through a readability calculator and it scored at a third grade level. But more than having a speaking style that would get a D+ as an elementary school essay, Trump also oozes the homespun charm of a medicine show barker.
I seldom (never) agree with rightwing asshole Cal Thomas but he is right to compare Trump to the character Lonesome Rhodes in the 1957 film "A Face In the Crowd."

Trump's speeches are all ego. He doesn't talk about what he will do. He talks about how great he is. He treats his supporters like trained seals. "I toss them a dead fish and they’ll flap their flippers." Lines from the movie sound like Trump speeches. It is remarkable and at the same time utterly terrifying.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It's possible to write like Hemingway and still have content, though. The problem with Trump is that so much of what he says is utterly without content.

Well, that's ONE of the problems with Trump.