Laetus in Praesens | Clarification of the meaning of Impeached "Donald Trump" #006

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Apr 11, 2020 8:20am PDT by linkage, Community

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Resistance Words mission is to bring the Democratic Party new words and concepts that will allow us to elect more and better Democrats. It is my thesis that the Democratic party is handacaped by not having “messaging discipline” and words to effectively navigate the challenges of good governance during the impending collapse of the environment.One of the key elements of my thesis is Democrats are still working with a “local” or “tribal” vocabulary that is applied to both the local and global. I do not think this works in all cases. I think we need new words specifically designed with a international or global sensibility.My go to source of inspiration for many of these words is Anthony Judge’s “Laetus in Praesens” website. Click here for the link to the Laetus in Praesens FAQ. This is a rather challenging website so upon occasion Resistance Words will be republishing selections from the site and try and simplify the content for the Daily Kos readers. Everything on Anthony Judge’s site in licensed under a Creative Commons license so I’m able to share freely with attribution.Jump the fold for a simple cognitive exercise on clarifying the meaning of “Donald Trump.” The exercise is simply to take some of news headlines generated by the press about Impeached Donald Trump and substitute the word American People for “Trump.” — JONImpeached Donald Trump is a Stochastic Murderer.

Who to Blame: "Donald Trump" or the "American People"?Let's get real clear on any responsibility for imminent global disasterProduced in a period of imminent war and global disaster. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars... (Matthew 24:6)ClarificationDonald Trump is the duly elected President of the USA -- elected by the American People according to well-defined electoral procedures. It is currently irrelevant whether those procedures are in any way in question. They have yet to be revised -- if that is feasible and desired by the American People. Trump is therefore the legitimate representative of the American People. He is variously acclaimed and recognized as the leader of the world's greatest superpower.It follows that the unprecedented media coverage of "Donald Trump" is fundamentally misleading, if not deliberately so. Why is it that? Who is rendered innocent thereby? Appropriately so? Who is weaseling out of any responsibility? Plausible deniability? Culpable deniability? Scapegoating?In the following exercise in clarification, mention of "Donald Trump" in titles of a selection of articles in the media is replaced by "American People" -- for whom Trump is merely the current mouthpiece in political, legal, executive, and public relations terms.

Clarification of the meaning of "Donald Trump"
Source	Misleading indications	Vital clarifications
The Nation, 8 May 2019	Trump and Bolton Are Putting War With Iran on a Hair Trigger	American People and Bolton Are Putting War With Iran on a Hair Trigger
Vox, 8 May 2019	Trump's Iran policy is making war more likely	American Peoples' Iran policy is making war more likely
The New York Times, 4 May 2019	Trump Dials Up the Pressure on Iran	American People Dial Up the Pressure on Iran
Foreign Policy, 7 May 2019	Trump's Iran Policy Is Becoming Dangerous	American Peoples' Iran Policy Is Becoming Dangerous
The New York Times, 29 April 2019	Asylum Seekers Face New Restraints Under Latest Trump Orders	Asylum Seekers Face New Restraints Under Latest Orders of the American People
The New York Times, 19 December 2018	Trump's Decision to Withdraw From Syria Is Alarming	Decision of American People to Withdraw From Syria Is Alarming
The New York Times, 27 January 2017	Donald Trump's Un-American Refugee Policy	Un-American Refugee Policy of the American People
The Conversation, 18 October 2018	Trump sees opportunity in Venezuela's humanitarian crisis as midterms approach	American People see opportunity in Venezuela's humanitarian crisis as midterms approach
Paste Magazine, 19 March 2019	Trump Is Putting Refugee Children In Black Sites	American People Are Putting Refugee Children In Black Sites
The Guardian, 22 April 2019	Trump issues Earth Day message without mentioning climate change	American People issue Earth Day message without mentioning climate change
BBC News, 26 November 2018	Trump on climate change report: 'I don't believe it'	American People on climate change report: 'We don't believe it'
Forbes, 23 February 2019	Trump's Climate Denial Is A National Security Threat	American Peoples' Climate Denial Is A National Security Threat
The Guardian, 8 May 2019	Trump's antics over Iran have endangered us all.	American Peoples' antics over Iran have endangered us all.
NBC News, 8 May 2019	Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal has been vindicated	American Peoples' withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal has been vindicated
Arms Control Association, October 2018,	Trump Challenges Europeans Over Iran Deal	American People Challenge Europeans Over Iran Deal
BBC News, 4 October 2017	What's Donald Trump said about guns and gun control?	What have the American People said about guns and gun control?
DW, 26 April 2019	Donald Trump announces withdrawal from UN arms treaty during NRA speech	American People announce withdrawal from UN arms treaty during NRA speech
Global News, 11 May 2017	Donald Trump's climate stance casts shadow over Arctic Council meeting	American Peoples' climate stance casts shadow over Arctic Council meeting
Bloomberg, 20 December 2018	Trump Outlines Plans for Oil Drilling in Arctic Wildlife Refuge	American People Outline Plans for Oil Drilling in Arctic Wildlife Refuge
The Wall Street Journal, 30 March 2019	Court Blocks Trump Effort to Open Arctic Waters to Oil Drilling	Court Blocks Effort of American People to Open Arctic Waters to Oil Drilling
Reuters, 6 May 2019	Wall Street futures plunge after Trump threatens China with further tariffs	Wall Street futures plunge after American People threaten China with further tariffs
POLITICO, 8 March 2018	Why isn't Wall Street freaking out about Trump?	Why isn't Wall Street freaking out about the American People?
The Telegraph, 8 May 2019	Trump has changed the rules of diplomacy, and America's allies better get used to it	The American People have changed the rules of diplomacy, and America's allies better get used to it
Daily Telegraph, 25 December 2018	Donald Trump questions child's belief in Santa	American People question child's belief in Santa
CNN, 29 April 2019	Washington Post says Trump has topped 10,000 false or misleading statements	Washington Post says American People have topped 10,000 false or misleading statements
POLITICO, 18 March 2019	Trump Says ISIS Is Defeated. Reality Says Otherwise.	American People Say ISIS Is Defeated. Reality Says Otherwise.
The Guardian, 18 December 2018	Blind creature that buries head in sand named after Donald Trump	Blind creature that buries head in sand named after the American People
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 21 January 2019	Trump's Space Force is a strategic mistake	American Peoples' Space Force is a strategic mistake
The Spectator, 20 April 2019	The comedy and tragedy of Trump	The comedy and tragedy of the American People

Blame-game: Collective Mea Culpa? You Must be Joking ! Them is to blame, Not us ! Personification: Should personification of "Donald Trump" be more fruitfully recognized as a metaphor for something more subtle and insidious? This is implied in the argument of the eminent economist Kenneth Boulding, also an American:

Our consciousness of the unity of self in the middle of a vast complexity of images or material structures is at least a suitable metaphor for the unity of group, organization, department, discipline or science. If personification is a metaphor, let us not despise metaphors -- we might be one ourselves (Image: knowledge in life and society, 1956)

The above essay after the introduction is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License by Anthony Judge.

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