I don't think I can watch anymore!

And yet--as I write this--I'm watching election coverage, at least this particular moment in an interminable political cycle.

Politics is like a football game, red team, blue team, rah, rah, rah.  If the money spent on this sport could be channeled directly into helping the people who need it, especially in providing work, education and inspiration, it would be a very good thing.  I have my pom-poms just like everybody else, but let's don't talk about that.  Let's talk about language.

A linguist on NPR recently said that if people preface their statements with phrases like "to tell the truth," we should question the veracity of what they are about to say. People who tell the truth generally just tell it without announcing what they are about to say as the truth, seeming to distinguish it from all the other things they've been saying, don't they?

I wish I had counted the times Trump used the words "incredible" and "unbelievable" in his Indiana victory speech.  Or "amazing."  (I'm sure the linguists did!) Suddenly, in the glow of his win,  everyone is amazing--and "we're all going to love each other and take care of each other and say Merry Christmas."

Then, I watched a clip in which Colbert pretended to be the moderator of a debate between--Donald and Mr. Trump.  On every topic, he showed a video in which Mr. Trump said exactly the opposite of what Donald said elsewhere.

The man may have lots of money and towers and walls, but his language lacks richness and nuance, to say the least. His language reflects, I think, a wall-less, windowless mind, a mind that wanders all over the place, always returning to his favorite subject, himself. His logical fallacies would embarrass a high school debater.  His language is simplistic and mean-spirited. No one is exempt from his insults.