Tag: #Donald Trump

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Reflections: Post No-Kings-II

In the wake of all the No-Kings-II rallies last weekend, some sober reflections are in order.  Let me promise in advance this will not be an anti-Trump screed (go to some of my other blog posts for that).  Instead, let’s look at the practical as well the spiritual gains these protests achieved.  In short, what was accomplished and where does the movement go from here?

Post No-Kings-II Benefits

Looking south along Hwy 9 during No Kings II rally.

1. Identification:

No-Kings-II rally in Poughkeepsie NY
Looking south along Hwy 9 during No Kings II rally.

First of all, the 2700+ No-Kings-II rallies produced a sense of continuing identity. The second rally proved the first No Kings rally was not a fluke. Instead, it revealed the  growing momentum of  spirit among people united against Trump’s authoritarianism. As Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive movement Indivisible, pointed out,  the numbers of people attending each of the three major rallies increased by 40-50 per cent each time.

2. Communication:

Second, preparation for the event required for each rally fostered increased discussion and networking among those who attended. This communication occurred not only face-to-face, but via telephone, email, and social media connections as well. New personal acquaintances sprang up.  And out of this our social and political knowledge evolved.

For example, my wife and I became familiar with organizations and movements such as Neighbor To Neighbor and 5 Calls. In the absence of any local group in the Poughkeepsie NY area, we established PK Power, a local group affiliated with Indivisible intended as a discussion and local action group to support nation-wide anit-authoritarian protests.

Such initiatives, personal and collective, foster a sense of community and support among those involved. Many pundits running the gambit of political persuasion speak out against the Trump’s regime’s intimidation tactics designed to dispirit his opponents. Our groups counter his minions’ activities through their shared resistance. And they provide a sense of unity, a serious psychological support against his followers’  stsrong-arm tactics.

3. Actionability:

No-Kings-II rally in Poughkeepsie NY
Looking north along Hwy 9 at the several thousand who participated.

Finally, these Infivisible rallies and information sessions provide concrete solutions to counter government behaviors that seem overwhelming and intractable. Certainly, when a constitutional legal champion like Marc Elias describes the Trump team’s lawlessness inside and outside  the criminal justice system, their fearsome actions mimic the unrelenting and unfeeling relentlessness of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator characterization.

Unlike Rebecca Solnit‘s incisive is mildly scatalogical assessment of late-stage Trumpism, Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin have provided workable, scalable, and legal activities to counter the lawless actions of  paramilitary organizations like ICE and the extra-legal mechanizations of people like Stephen Miller. Small-scale protests and local acts of resistance are effective and can be scaled up to national level actions.

Drawbacks

Rally poster at the Poughkeepsie NY No-Kings-II rallyMuch like Trump’s minions, resistance under the Indivisible banner is not perfect. The following reveals some of our movement’s shortcomings:

1. Speed:

No-Kings-II rally poster
Rally poster at the Poughkeepsie NY No-Kings-II rally

Unlike the Trump regime with its comparatively small nucleus of participants, people operating under the banner of resistance groups must coordinate with a much greater number of participants. So many diverse groups with their differing goals and initiatives make collective mobilization difficult and unwieldy.

2. Transparency:

Now that Indivisible has organized three separate mass protests against the Trump regime, its operational tactics are clear. Trump’s minions operate in secret and behind closed doors, but mass protests are public and readily knowable. The threat of disruption, incarceration, and violence remains a constant threat.

3. Fatigue:

Maintaining the energy level that fuels protests and peaceful acts of rebellion is always difficult. While the Magas and Trump’s enablers have their zealotry to sustain them (not to mention prison-time accountability should they fail), the people who participate in the No Kings rallies have only their decency and conscience to sustain them. The temptation to give in to their apprehensions is always there.

After No-Kings-II

Sign from No-Kings-II rally, Poughkeepsie, NY
Sign at the Poughkeepsie NY No Kings rally.

What happens now? Ezra Levin says plans are in the works for a third national day of protest. His organizers and participants need time to recharge and reorganize. In the meantime, Indivisible offers a variety of actions and sources for local grou[s to consult.

Judging from discussions I’ve had with fellow rally-goers and PK Power-Indivisible  participants, the time for wake-up calls passed long ago. Tearing down the East wing of the White House demonstrates that fact literally and figuratively. Many people (the majority, I hope) want action. They want to take back the government that is rightfully everyone’s ours. Rallies like No Kings II and organizations like Indivisible provide the ways and means to accomplish it.

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Authorship Game-changer: Trump 2.0

Game-changer: AuthorshipThe four months after my blog post  on Trump 2.0 show him to be the  institutional game-changer many of us dreaded. My post at that time discussed how to cope with the impact of his administration in general terms. This one addresses his impact and how to deal with it in more specific and personal areas: independent authorship and publishing. The discussion below itemizes some general points with my persaonl commentary.

Game-changer in General Publishing

An Artificial Intelligence (AI) meta-search on the topic breaks down Donald Trump‘s impact on the publishing industry into five key areas:

  1. Trade and Tariffs
  2. Government Funding
  3. Freedom of Speech
  4. Author Mobility
  5. Shift to Digital Formats

Of these, items 1 and 3 may be the most significant for independent authors. The others can be dismissed for the purposes of this post.

Why?

Many independent authors already embrace digital formats through ebooks and audio formats. Government funding primarily benefits researchers and non-fiction writers in general, i.e. anyone whose income derives from government grants. In regards to author mobility, Trump’s policies affect those writers who have significant readership in other countries. A prime example is Curtis Chin . He claims to have lost ten thousand dollars per speaking engagement due to cancellations on American college campuses.

On the other hand, Item 3 strikes at the heart of the independent writers movement–freedom of expression. Without independent writers, publishers, and bookstores, readers would receive their information only from the corporate legacy publishers and the writers who work for them. The current news cycle demonstrates how easily information from these sources is compromised and homogenized.

Trade and Tariffs: A Personal CaseTrump 2.0: Game-changer

That leaves Item 1. It provides an anecdotal example of Trump’s impact on indendent authorship. Aside from increased printing and shipping costs, Trump’s tariff ban reduces the already-narrow profit margins independent authors and publishers rely upon to survive. These authors either purchase paperback copies of their manuscripts from a bulk printer like IngramSpark or buy them at wholesale prices from an independent publisher. Either way, the retail markup on these items depends upon what reader traffic will bear.

In recent years, with the increasing number of books published annually (circa two million) and the increasing implementation of author giveaways to generate reader interest, the markup margin grew smaller and smaller. Based on personal experience, the top price readers expect to pay for mid-range fiction paperbacks ranges between 15 and 19 dollars. Charging more than that dampens reader purchases because it infringes on what the price range of hardcover genre fiction–$20 – $25.

Since small-press publishers charge authors 55-65% wholesale per item, price increases anywhere along the supply chain (paper, shipping, etc.) diminish the profit authors receive. Add in the initial outlay of purchasing books in bulk from printers like IngramSpark and the giveaways cited above, independent authors face a difficult time making ends meet. Trump’s 2.0 tariff policies along with his cultural ntimidation tactics chill freedom of speech and diminish writers’ livelihoods.

Authorship Game-Changer(s)Game-changer(s): What We Can Do

Some game-changer solutions lurk within the examples above. The Alliance for Independent Authors recommends (with my comments):

  • Monitoring your print supply chain–know where your books are printed and shipped
  • Diversity production–utilize Print on Demand (POD) options
  • Stay informed–consult reliable trade news sources
  • Consider other sources–ebook and audiobooks are unaffected

These bullet points summarize what independent authors can do to maintain the quality and affordability of their products. Furthermore, authors need to reinvent themselves as business enterprises.  That means deriving income from a variety of writing-related sources, not just their books.

In addition, readers can do their share.  Support local independent book stores. Write brief reviews in Goodreads or BookBub about the books you enjoy. Take a flyer on a book by an unfamiliar author at the next writers conference or arts-and-crafts fair you attend. Part of the enjoyment derives from discovering a fresh, distinct voice. That’s what independent writers are all about.

What do you think? Do you have any suggestions not given above? Give me your suggestions in the Leave a Reply section below.

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Trump’s ‘Killer’ Figures of Speech

Donald Trump's Uses of Figures of Speech

Former president Donald Trump says he wants to unite America but the rehetoric of his speeches reveals his underlying sinister and destructive intent. This is not a new revelation. Scads of his speeches and diatribes before, during, and after his presidency refer to murder, bombing, or the “taking out” of people and/or problems with which he disagrees. What is novel is how the figures of speech in his rhetoric has become routine in our country’s everyday political discourse–the “banality of evil” if you will.

But is it? Has Trump kindled a new ferocity or beastlness in our speech? Or has the blood-thirst always been there, waiting for someone or something to tap into and reignite it? Let’s find out which.

Rhetorical Classifications

People employ numerous forms of rhetorical devices to communicate with one another. Our daily conversations contain both literal and figurative language. The former denotes the exact meaning of the word or phrase, the latter promotes an intensified or persuasive effect. Few of us speak in a literal fashion all or even much of the time. Instead, most of us employ the tropes and schemes of figurative language to persuade or convince others to conform to their way of thinking or behaving. A fine example of this occurred during Ruben Gallego‘s address to the Democratic National Convention last month (See my August newsletter for more details).

Figures of Speech Examples

De Epending on the source, figures of speech can be broken into over 250 sub-categories. Of the two major categories cited above, tropes, words that carry a meaning other than what they ordinarily signify, are more commonly used in everday speech. Some of the most common are:

  • Allegory–a metaphoric narrative in which the literal elements indirectly reveal a parallel story of symbolic or abstract significance
  • Aphorism– briefly phrased, easily memorable statement of a truth or opinion, an adage.
  • Euphemism–substitution of a less offensive or more agreeable term for another
    • Hyperbole–use of exaggerated terms for emphasis.
  • Metaphor–an implied comparison between two things, attributing the properties of one thing to another that it does not literally possess.
  • Metonomy–a thing or concept is called not by its own name but rather by the name of something associated in meaning with that thing or concept
  • Snowclone–alteration of a cliche or phrase pattern
    • Zeugma–use of a single verb to describe two or more actions (cf. my August newsletter for a fine example)

Trump’s Most Characteristic Figures of Speech

The examples identified above reflect most of the tropes contained in language Trump commonly uses in his speeches and online postings. Among these, three merit special mention: aphorism, euphemism and hyperbole. Trump’s use of aphorism appears ad nauseum in his phrase, “Make America Great Again.” He employs hyperbole every time he characterizes one of his actions or those taken in his behalf as “perfect.”

However, hIs employment of euphemism is particularly notable. A 2019 USA Today analysis of 64 of his rallies held between 2017 and 2019 revealed Trump used the word “invasion” nineteen times when discussing the topic of immigration. He employed the zoomorphic term “animals” in regards to the immigrants themselves. But among them all, “killer” proves to be Trump’s euphemism of choice. It appeared almost three dozen times in his speeches at those rallies.

Benefit of the Doubt

Some including myself back then dismissed such characterizations as political rhetoric designed and confined to appeal to the prejudice of his followers. And on one level, it is just that. Yet, on another, why does it appeal to them at all? Does his audience actually believe all, most, or even many of the people crossing our borders are cutthroats and murderers?

Probably not. Certainly, many Americans customarily employ the term “killer” in their daily conversations. How often have you heard “[Name of your favorite sports team] really killed them in the fourth quarter.” Or, “I really killed [Name of my opponent] at [card game, sports activity]today].” Examples of hyperbole, sure, but they also express the speakers’ emotional attitude, their satisfaction in annihilating their opponents to the extent they had no recourse left. In short, they lost.

On a personal note, I grew up in Wisconsin, a place where following the Green Bay Packers is, if not a religion, a certain conversation starter. Among all their great players and coaches over the years, the one who most stands out, who headed them during their glory years was Vince Lombardi. His motto: “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.”

So What?

My father preached Lombardi’s aphorism like a mantra to me and my brother during our teenage years. Certainly, fathers in dozens of Wisconsin households and all across the country advocated the same to their families. Yet, as important as the content of the expression is the brevity of the idea it expresses. Those same people would shy away from endorsing a concept like winning at all costs is an acceptable form of moral behavior. However, embedding the idea within a witty turn of phrase renders it more supportable and justifiable, ennobles it, in fact.

The same logic applies to winning football, or any endeavor for that matter. If sports aphorisms serve as a metaphor for our daily lives, then the amassing of yardage, the imposition of will becomes a justifiable, even honorable pursuit. Better yet, beating our opponents and by extension, those who disagree with us, into submission becomes a laudatory pursuit. To do so, such that these others, the opponents, have no recourse, no means of fighting back thus becomes an enviable goal in itself.

Connection to Trump’s Figures of Speech

But, one might say, that’s just Trump being Trump. What impact can his language have over the rest of American society?

Plenty. His role as a former president and current Republicqn nominee gives his language an outsized status and power few other individuals possess. His customary hyperbole kicks up a duststorm of obfuscatory ideas, some contradictory, others unrelated, from which he can shield the identity of his true intentions. In short, the quality of his rhetoric transforms him into a figurative Loki of ideas, a veritable shapeshifter in expressing his ideas and opinions.

Moreover, the amorphous quality of his language resonates with others to do the same. Case in point: Mark Robinson, current Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina. At a July church gathering, Robinson declared during his address that “some folks need killing.” Spoke in the context of dealing with “evil people,” his target of such violence remained unclear. What was clear, however, was the absolutist nature of his solution–the total annihilation, the killing of the other–applicable to anyone different from him and his beliefs.

The Upshot of Trump’s Figure Language

Robinson exemplifies the “banality of evil” mentioned above and cited so often by mainstream media. The ordinary quality of his speech combined with the hyperbole contained within it reflect the absolutist, right vs. wrong quality of his thinking. For him and for Trump, the world is a battleground between good and evil. In such a dystopian worldview, there can only be winners and losers because the only ones fit to live are those who possess the correct qualities that merit living. What those qualities might be are reserved to the individual who defines them.

That condemns everyone to the fate of isolation from everyone else–alone to fight with whatever powers one has. That is a fine working scenario if one believes in a merciful god willing to provide assistance, but what about those who don’t believe in such a deity? Or those who believe in a deity that differs from the one the first person has chosen? Or those who believe in none at all?

Based on the evidence, an alternative solution may be to resonate with those individuals whose language patterns contain figures of speech which acknowledge the uncertainty of human existence and which accept the inclusion of new ideas, beliefs, and life styles.

However, embedding these figures in the everday speech of our leaders is not enough. Perhaps the best way to dampen the evil that pervades the human spark of life is to counter it with a backfire flame of compassion, unity and tolerance. It might not extinguish the evil that exists within us, but it may help in recogizing and accepting its existance in all of us while nurturing the good impulses within ourselves as well.