Donald Trump and the Power of Words

Read Time:6 Minute, 17 Second

by Bill Formby

An old blind man was sitting on a busy street corner in the rush-hour begging for money. On a cardboard sign, next to an empty tin cup, he had written: ‘Blind – Please help’.

No-one was giving him any money.

A young advertising writer walked past and saw the blind man with his sign and empty cup, and also saw the many people passing by completely unmoved, let alone stopping to give money.

The advertising writer took a thick marker-pen from her pocket, turned the cardboard sheet back-to-front, and re-wrote the sign, then went on her way.

Immediately, people began putting money into the tin cup.

After a while, when the cup was overflowing, the blind man asked a stranger to tell him what the sign now said.

“It says,” said the stranger, ” ‘It’s a beautiful day. You can see it. I cannot.’ “( Businessballs.com)

The above shows just how powerful the choice of words can be in getting results from others. It seems that people are forever saying that Donald Trump does not understand the impact of words he uses as the POTUS. I would argue otherwise.

Trump has been in the business of selling one thing or another since the seventies and while he has not been wildly successful at selling at selling anything by himself that alone shows and understanding of the impact of words. He has always been his biggest fan and has become familiar with words that make him seem to be the greatest at everything when, in fact, he is nothing more than a shill.

The fact that he knows enough to never take responsibility for anything that anything that fails indicates that he knows that failure is equate with being a mere mortal. On the other hand he knows that taking credit for everything that turns out well indicates that he knows that attachment to success gives him an air of being great and wonderful. In fact, he is so shameless that he likely knows that smart people understand that he is simply a con man he doesn’t care because he considers most people to not be very smart. So, he goes with the odds.

Watching Donald Trump talk always reminds me of Charles Durning singing “The Sidestep” in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”. That obvious political maneuver so eloquently demonstrated by Durning comes off as a disgusting trait by Donald Trump because he does it so badly and it is so obviously. Most politicians use a variation of it to slightly slide responsibility around themselves in a somewhat statesman like way. Not Trump, he just flat makes up lies about things that never happened and says them with such a certainty that it makes people shake their heads in disbelief.

Read: Understanding Trump One Step At A Time

Is it possible, just maybe, that we were talking about one thing and he was talking about something else. But then they replay it in their heads. Nope, we were all on the same path, heard the same thing, and he just took a hard right hand turn into liars land, or, KellyAnne says, “alternative facts”. Which, until now did not exist, so, like Orwell’s 1984, the Trump Administration is taking a page out of Oceania’s book with Newspeak. Next we will have people disappearing from the history books. I mean, Trump is already comparing himself to Lincoln. What’s next?

Regarding the events in Charlottesville Trump knew exactly what he was doing when he excluded the white supremacists from his speech about the incident. There was no misspeak, no misunderstanding as his aides are trying to make it seem. Some have suggested that he was simply reading from a prepared text and it did not represent him. That is only true in the sense that he did not cheer for the white supremacists, or say something to the effect that the victim should not have been in the street.

There are any number of pundits who have this wrong. He is not making mistakes, he knows exactly what he is doing and it is dangerous for the country. A few years back there was a young man that played football for Texas A&M named Johnny Manziel. He was one heck of a quarterback and seem destined for greatness at the next level. No one could hold him down either on or off the field. They called him “Johnny Football” and the pros could not wait, so it seemed until he got out of college and showed the world how the game was really played. But Johnny, as talented as he was, was just a wreck looking for a place to happen. There were plenty of signs in his senior year in college but no one really paid attention, until he hit the pros.

The poor, hapless Cleveland Browns needed a savior in the worst way and they drafted Johnny in the first round with a monster contract. Then something happened. Those signs that were there in his senior year, his showboating, drinking, people thinking he could do no wrong suddenly emerged and he could not even earn the starting position on the football team. He was suddenly out of his league and the pressure was simply too great for him too handle. The drinking and partying got worse and he eventually was dropped from the team and is now not even in the game. All of this in just a few years.

The analogy here is whether Trump has become our political “Johnny Football.” Yes, he still has his fans, mostly idiots who do not want to admit they were wrong, and people like the white supremacists whose message is music to his ears. But, Donald has moved from his millionaire business empire to a whole new league. As a private citizen he could afford to just speak his mind, but that does not play well on the world stage. He is floundering but does not want to admit it. Like Johnny Football he is a drunk except not on alcohol, but something much worse. He is drunk on his own sense of self worth and self image. Unfortunately, we do not have team owners who will cut their losses and send him on his way.

Read: The Horrible Horror of the Donald Trump Show

Yes, it is sad to see someone who is great, if only in their own mind, to start coming apart at the seams. The only thing more tragic is that he is pulling an entire country down with him and the only ones who have the power to change that do not have the integrity to do so. One thing is certain, at least to me. . At least Johnny Manziel actually got help for his alcohol and anger management problems. Trump will continue his path of destruction because there does not seem to be any cure for chronic narcissism.

Lastly, I will suggest something here that most may not agree with, although I hope they will. The vast majority of the time when a person has a serious problem, as does The Donald, his loved ones step in, if they love him enough. The question is, does anybody on this earth love Donald Trump enough to hold an intervention and get him the help he needs? The answer, of course, is no. Because most of the people do not love Donald Trump, they love the image of The Donald. Besides, no one knows Donald Trump.

About Post Author

Bill Formby

Bill Formby, aka William A. Formby, PhD, aka Lazersedge is a former Marine and a former police officer. He is a retired University Educator who considers himself a moderate pragmatic progressive liberal, meaning that he thinks practically liberal, acts practically liberal, and he is not going to change in the near future. But, if he does he will be sure to let you know.
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jess
6 years ago

He’s a con man playing the long con imo or trying to at least. He knows exactly what he is doing with his words make no mistake about that. He goes into rage filled twitler mode when things are getting close to him. Look at the racist shit this past weekend, now we find out Mueller served him with a subpeona(sp) on his businesses just before all that crap on twitter. He’s good at the distraction, like a pick pocket knows to have you look elsewhere while he is stealing your wallet. My two cents anyhow. I haven’t had the pleasure of being online the past couple of weeks, had personal stuff going on and just could not deal with being rage filled and my personal stuff I had to focus in on at the same time. I see, just like the soaps, I can still tune in weeks later and it’s the same characters doing the same things on the same channels 🙂

Peter Austen
6 years ago

There are still those who defend this horrible man, and will doubtless continue to do so. Out of roughly 500 members of congress only democrats and a handful of republicans have stood up to him, even after yesterday’s outrageous statements. Cowards all.

Bill Formby
Reply to  Peter Austen
6 years ago

Yes, Peter, they are cowards, at least those that disagree with him. There are a few though that would still side with him, especially those from our Southern states. Why we must tolerate this I am not sure but here in my home state of Alabama I would love to round a bunch of them up and ship them to some distant island so they could be happy being among their own kind and I could be happy living out my days in peace.

Neil Bamforth
6 years ago

Mid-term not long- term! Bloody auto correct!

Neil Bamforth
6 years ago

Can anything be done in your long-term elections? I don’t understand exactly what they are or why you have an but, if they’re actually worth having, can anything be done about him?

Reply to  Neil Bamforth
6 years ago

There are two ways we can get rid of Trump: impeachment by the house and trial by the senate in the case that he is found to be involved in a criminal enterprise. The second way is removal from office using the 25th amendment of our constitution, which basically says the president can be removed if he is found to be unfit for office or incapacitated in such a way that he can’t perform his duties. Most of America is praying for this one to happen, because the first would take too long. Personally I don’t see any of it happening. The mid-term elections next year could take out enough members of congress to hand power and control to the democrats, in which case he would definitely be impeached, but that doesn’t guarantee removal. He would have to resign, which he never would, or be found guilty of high crimes or misdemeanors in the senate. Hope that answered your question old bean 🙂

Neil Bamforth
Reply to  Professor Mike
6 years ago

It did. I think your political ‘system’ needs an urgent overhaul!!

Bill Formby
6 years ago

Remember when Trump said he did not like losers? Apparently he has changed his mind because unless I am badly mistaken the South an the Racists lost the Civil War. But he likes them now.

Bill Formby
6 years ago

Remember when Trump said he did not like losers? Apparently he has changed his mind because unless I am badly mistaken the South an the Racists lost the Civil War.

Admin
6 years ago

Trump has an 85% approval rate in Alabama! Wow Bill.

Bill Formby
Reply to  Professor Mike
6 years ago

Yeah, tell me about it. I live here.

6 years ago

Dave is right Bill, this is another of your thoughtful articles. I also agree with him when he says there’s no hope for Trump. I also don’t think he’ll go down over the Russia thing, but he might for obstruction or any number of things he did since being elected.

Bill Formby
Reply to  Caroline Taylor
6 years ago

Thank you Caroline. I believe that the special counsel will get to close and Trump will be forced to make a move of some kind. Regardless of what he does it will be chaotic for the country. I do believe he is capable of starting a war to try to try to hold onto power.

6 years ago

Good article. There’s no hope for Trump, no matter the words we write, but we need to keep writing them.

Bill Formby
Reply to  Dave Wren
6 years ago

Good point Dave. I can only hope that someone at some point, will get through to the powers that be that he needs to go.

Admin
6 years ago

You are right Bill. No one really knows Donald Trump, as he is the chameleon, the red herring, and, sadly, the man in the White House.

Bill Formby
Reply to  Professor Mike
6 years ago

Those two things, White House and Trump, should not even be in the same sentence. 🙂

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