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He cheats constantly. He lies constantly. Covers up, deceives constantly.
Elsewhere, Rachel Maddow and Nicole Wallace today also marvel at the extent, the pervasiveness of his sleaze:
Maddow on Stormy Daniels' graphic testimony: ‘None of us will ever get this case out of our mouth’ (youtube.com)
They also talk of how his base just laughs th…
He cheats constantly. He lies constantly. Covers up, deceives constantly.
Elsewhere, Rachel Maddow and Nicole Wallace today also marvel at the extent, the pervasiveness of his sleaze:
Maddow on Stormy Daniels' graphic testimony: ‘None of us will ever get this case out of our mouth’ (youtube.com)
They also talk of how his base just laughs this off, denies everything true.
How does one get so far from the truth, so insistently, regularly?
Let’s first review its opposite -- how we get fit for the truth. And for this, some fundamental skills to see truly: we learn to rely on nouns aptly detailed, and we learn to wed them to specific, active verbs.
Trump has neither. His entire view of life (lying, falsifying) devolves to the labeling, non-action verbs called copulative: “is,” “was,” “are,’ “were” serving only barrages of epithets, insults, adjectives.
Take a look, by contrast, at God. When he made the world, he specified his nouns and delivered them by energetic, active verbs. Only when he finished all his good activity -- apt, specific nouns, active verbs -- did he stand back and permit himself his one copulative: “It was good.”
So let's keep this in mind, too: anyone can, will sink in, wallow in vulgarity assuredly as does the fat orange guy -- sordid use of language guarantees this vulgarity
As a retired English teacher, I love your active and passive verb use -
Thank you, Sarah.
Except, too, I hope that reliance on, trust and delight in regular use of good, active verbs -- the active voice -- will in that proportion preclude passive voice.
One area where the passive voice gloriously has its uses: science. In places other than that -- in any bureaucracy -- passive inevitably serves as cover for liars, evaders, dissemblers, and all our various garden variety as well as most shrill dishonest (as doomed a situation as wherever cluster to each other those who hurl copulatives).
I hadn't planned on commenting tonight, but Sarah's having brought up the use of active vs passive verbs has encouraged me to talk about the use of active vs passive voice when people write. It's a bugbear of mine - incorrect verb use displays either ignorance or lazy writing, while use of the passive voice is another animal entirely.
The use of passive voice evades ownership and responsibility. Have you ever noticed in Russian news statements how often the passive voice is used? That isn't unintentional. It's also frequently seen in police reports ("The gun went off, and the neighbor's dog was shot." ). Here's a favorite quote of mine about that:
"A mind can be overthrown by words... What is happening to the brain of a person who uses the passive, who writes,'Delay should not be allowed to take place' instead of 'Hurry'? The user of the passive verb doesn't want a universe in which responsible agents do their acts. You see? Bad language ultimately is IMMORAL."
-- Richard Mitchell
I had a job in the army once where everyone in the office was expected to use passive voice.
(As you can see, Gary, I just did, too, above.)
Trouble is, this was the U.S. Army Vietnam war era. And every army office had lots to hide, at all bases around the world. I happened to be at a division HQ in southern Germany (its artillery units on the West German / Czech border). All funds were diverted to Nam (yes, another passive by me). Roofs were leaking so G.I.'s would wake up mornings with snow on their cots. Plumbing broke. Electrical lines fizzed out. Certain supplies never got replenished. Morale tanked as guys with more than six months active duty remaining after Nam tours were sent to kill time in these European units.
I newly was in the office of congressional correspondence. The three guys who'd long been there were all ETS'ing out of the army in short time -- but they'd never had to go to Nam, and had good duty all during their service.
Only hitch, all the problems about which Congress people inquired were real problems. We'd send out for background from the actual locations and could see that the problems were not being addressed (yes, another passive). But it was army policy to cover up all problems, to put a positive spin on everything. So letters went back to the Congress people saying such-and-such had been investigated, such-and-such was found, and so-and-so was being "taken care of" (the army also loved euphemism).
Lies. All lies.
I refused to write boilerplate. So my C.O. sent me to join some idiot NATO field exercises in Denmark. I knew it was just to get rid of me. But I enjoyed Copenhagen. And when I returned, the other three guys had all shipped out, back to the U.S., all replaced by private E-1s. And the office was empty -- the new guys in a giant other office, now with a one-star general signing all the cover-up letters they'd write. And I had no job.
I'd done nothing wrong in any way anyone ever wanted to discuss. So I went to the post library. Walked around the beautiful Swabisch villages. Drew my pay. Ate at the mess hall.
Passive voice, Gary.
So you're just the man to ask - is it true about the saltpeter in the mashed potatos?
I got KP duty sometimes, then Gary. Peeled hundreds of potatoes.
By hand.
If anyone had come along to add any additives, it was after I'd stolen a pie or two and returned to barracks.
Phil, you were doing so well there. Then, in my opinion, you took a left turn and went right off a cliff with your assumption that God writes books, or scriptures. I'm fairly certain that is not true. The founding fathers spoke of a creator. Our revolution was built on religious freedom. So unless you were using writer as a metaphor for creator, or I missed something else, then I must respectfully disagree.
Actually, Justin, it was Orwell who said these things -- said them to God.
I do agree with your conclusion, but Orwell notwithstanding, one question remains; who wrote the Bible?
Many friends of ours whose names we'll never know, Justin.
Plus several of their weird uncles into food fetishes. And their younger brothers and some sisters who wrote the killing and mayhem scenes, not having video games in those days.
Turn on Fox or a clone and watch how they present these cases.