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His linguistic quirks reveal the salesmanship that has made his career

Aug 8th 2020

EVERYONE KNOWS how to do a Donald Trump impersonation. In speech, adopt his raspy timbre, bellowing volume and start-stop rhythm. In writing, throw in bigly, capitalise Emotional Noun Phrases and end everything with an exclamation mark. Such quirks of enunciation and spelling make Mr Trump easy to mimic, but they do not easily explain his political success. The way he constructs sentences, however, does offer some insight into how he captured the presidency.

Underpinning Mr Trumps distinctive language is an extreme confidence in his own knowledge. Like Steve Jobswho inspired his colleagues at Apple by making the impossible seem possibleMr Trump creates his own reality distortion field. One of his signature tropes is not a lot of people know He has introduced the complicated nature of health care, or the fact that Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president, as truths that are familiar only to a few. A related sound-bite is nobody knows more about...than I do. The fields of expertise Mr Trump has touted this way include campaign finance, technology, politicians, taxes, debt, infrastructure, the environment and the economy.

His critics have often attributed this to narcissism, but a complementary explanation is that it is also one of his strengthssalesmanship. In Mr Trumps framing, he is in possession of rare information. He is therefore able to cut a customer a special deal not a lot of people know about. Should you be tempted to take your business to a competitor, he will remind you that nobody knows more about what is on offer than he does.

And how does he convince listeners he really does know what hes talking about? His language constantly indicates self-belief. Consider Mr Trumps predecessor. Barack Obama was known for long pauses, often filled with a languid uh He gives the impression of a man thinking hard about what to say next. But Mr Trump rarely hesitates and hardly ever says um or uh. When he needs to plan his next sentenceas everyone musthe often buys time by repeating himself. This reinforces the impression that he is supremely confident and that what hes saying is self-evident.

Perhaps the most striking element of Mr Trumps uncompromising belief in his sales technique can be glimpsed in an unusual place: his mistakes. Mr Trump is often presented as a linguistic klutz, saying things that make so little sense that his detractors present them as proof of major cognitive decline.

All people make some slips and stumbles when they speak: not just those known for them (say, George W. Bush) but those known for eloquence (Mr Obama, for example). Mr Trump regularly makes errors but his signature quality, by contrast, is to lean into them. Take a recent interview with Fox News, in which he talked about governors differing attitudes towards masks. Some are keener than others about requiring people to wear them to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Or, as Mr Trump put it, theyre more mask into.

What is remarkable is not the mistake. It is easy for anyone to go down a syntactic blind alley. Many people will say something like theyre more mask and then realise there is nowhere to go. The sentence, in linguists terms, requires repair, which usually involves backtracking. Unless, that is, you are Mr Trump, in which case you confidently intone into and move on, giving no hint of trouble.

This refusal to concede blunders shows up in more serious ways, of course, such as the presidents unwillingness to take responsibility for his administrations missteps during the pandemic. It also helps explain two mysteries. The first is the odd disjunct between words that seem nonsensical on the page and a stage presence that enraptures audiencesit is Mr Trumps assertive persona that convinces more than his words.

The second is how this works on his fans. In a recent survey conducted by Pew, Americans were asked to rank Mr Trump and Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, on a number of characteristics. The trait for which Americans give Mr Trump the highest mark is telling. Despite a notably light schedule and a stated disdain for exercise, the presidents incessant speaking style is almost certainly the reason he received a good score on one quality in particular: 56% of voters, and 93% of his supporters, describe him as energetic.

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This article appeared in the Books & arts section of the print edition under the headline "The Greatest Phrases!"

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Donald Trumps language offers insight into how he won the presidency - The Economist

President Donald Trump on Thursday issued executive orders banning U.S. transactions with Chinese tech firms Tencentand ByteDance.

Tencent owns Chinese messaging app WeChat, and ByteDance is the Beijing-based parent company of the widely popular short video-sharing app TikTok.

The ban will take effectin 45 days and may attract retaliation from Beijing.

While the scope of the ban remains unclear, the executive orders said that after 45 days, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross "shall identify the transactions" that will be subjected to the prohibition.

China's foreign ministry on Friday said at a media briefing that it firmly opposed the executive orders, Reuters reported. Beijing will defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businesses, according to foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, the news wire added.

WeChat "automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information," Trump said in the executive order banning the app, adding that the application also captures personal information of Chinese nationals visiting the U.S.

TheUS actions against TikTok and WeChat could be a turning point in Beijing's calculus around how to respond to the US policy actions...

The order would basically ban the app in the United States as it prohibits "any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd."

Tencent shares in Hong Kong tumbled 5.04% on Friday.

A similar order was issued for TikTok and its Beijing-based owner, ByteDance.

The popular app "may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party," Trump said in the executive order banning the video-sharing app."The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security."

TikTok has consistently denied those allegations. It says that U.S. user data is stored in the country itself with a backup in Singapore, and that its data centers are located outside China, implying the information was not subjected to Chinese law.

Still, experts have pointed to existing legislation in China which could force local Chinese companies like ByteDance and othersto hand over data to Beijing.

Microsoft announced Sunday that it was in talks with ByteDance to acquire TikTok's business in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand within the next three weeks, ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline.

In a statement, TikTok said it was "shocked" by the executive order and said it was "issued without any due process.

"For nearly a year, we have sought to engage with the US government in good faith to provide a constructive solution to the concerns that have been expressed. What we encountered instead was that the Administration paid no attention to facts, dictated terms of an agreement without going through standard legal processes, and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses," TikTok said in its statement.

Read TikTok'sfull statement here.

Tencent did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

The moves came after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration wants to see "untrusted" Chinese apps like WeChat and TikTok removed from U.S. app stores. He detailed a new five-pronged "Clean Network" effort aimed at curbing potential national security risks and said because those apps have parent companies based in China, there was "significant threats to personal data of American citizens, not to mention tools for Chinese Communist Party content censorship."

Pompeo also said the State Department would work with other government agencies to limit the ability of Chinese cloud service providers to collect, store and process data in the U.S.

The latest moves represent another step in the deteriorating relations between the world's two largest economies.

"The executive orders represent a major escalation on the US side of the confrontation with China over the use of technology and mark the first time the US government has attempted to ban a software application running on millions of mobile phones within the US,"according to analysts at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

While the move puts pressure on ByteDance to sell TikTok to Microsoft or other U.S. companies within the 45-day window, the implications for WeChat and Tencent could be broader depending on guidance from the Trump administration, Eurasia Group analysts said.

"TheUS actions against TikTok and WeChat could be a turning point in Beijing's calculus around how to respond to the US policy actions that have now either impacted or threatened to impact all of China's national tech champions," the analysts wrote.

"The strident tone of some editorials in state backed media in recent days suggests pressure is mounting for Beijing to take steps like rolling out the much talked about but not yet implemented unreliable entities list to target the operations of US technology companies in China," they added.

Recently, the U.S. closed the Chinese consulate in Houston, which prompted China to do the same for the U.S. consulate in Chengdu.

CNBC'sAmanda Macias contributed to this report.

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Trump issues executive orders banning U.S. transactions with WeChat and TikTok in 45 days - CNBC

DEFENDER IN CHIEFDonald Trumps Fight for Presidential PowerBy John Yoo320 pp. All Points. $29.99.

Defender in Chief lays out Yoos conservative case for an extraordinarily strong president, virtually unchecked by Congress. Readers familiar with Yoo (he served in the George W. Bush administration and has written extensively about presidential power) wont be surprised by the arguments found in this book, except for the fact that here he depicts President Donald Trump as an ardent defender of his originalist vision of the Constitution. Yoo, who didnt support Trump for president in 2016, now concludes that Trump campaigns like a populist but governs like a constitutional conservative.

This dense treatise makes clear how many actions can be justified by proponents of unitary executive power a theory of constitutional law that claims presidents control the entire executive branch and have virtually unchecked powers in the realm of national security. With this analytical framework, Yoo can legitimize almost everything Trump has done. The presidents brazen use of foreign policy for his own self-interest with regard to Ukraine makes constitutional sense, as does the paper-thin firewall separating his global real estate company from his political authority. Somehow, Trump fits neatly into the original vision of founders who feared corrupt and centralized power.

Often, Yoos academic veneer falls away. At the same time that he lambastes Democratic opposition to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, he breezes over Senator Mitch McConnells refusal to consider President Obamas Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

Yoo is most convincing when he argues that Congress was complicit in expanding presidential power. It is true that partisan considerations have led congressional Republicans to support Trumps flexing his muscle while Democrats have often been afraid to take tougher stands against this runaway administration.

Yoo makes clear that when one accepts a theory of presidential power as grandiose as his, almost anything from the George W. Bush administrations use of enhanced interrogation to Trumps institution-breaking behavior becomes permissible.

WE SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMINGFrom Reagan to Trump A Front-Row Seat to a Political RevolutionBy Gerald F. Seib304 pp. Random House. $28.

In a well-written if familiar account, Seib, a veteran Wall Street Journal reporter, provides a history of the conservative movement from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump. Seeking to make sense of Trumpism, he begins by conveying the atmosphere of the Reagan era, tracing the multifaceted political coalition that Reagan stitched together in 1980 as well as the ideology that guided his years in the White House.

Seib argues that the Reagan coalition remained intact through the mid-1990s. Things started to shift when Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich introduced America to his blistering style of partisanship: The face and tone of conservative leadership had shifted from the sunny, optimistic and gentle approach of Ronald Reagan to the much harsher, angrier and more pugilistic approach of Newt Gingrich. But the real trouble, according to Seib, began when Reagans coalition was supplanted by nationalist, populist forces that capitalized on middle-class insecurities. The fringe seized control, starting with the vice-presidential nomination of the Alaska governor Sarah Palin in 2008 and moving to the Tea Party victories in the 2010 midterm elections.

Seibs history echoes the outlook of the #NeverTrump movement. If the origins of conservatism were relatively pristine, then there can be a version of Republicanism that doesnt tolerate a president tweeting out videos of a supporter yelling white power! at protesters.

But Seib plays down what was there all along. The decision to stir a white backlash dates back at least to Richard Nixons 1968 law and order campaign. The role of reactionary populism, including nativism and anti-Semitism, was always relevant, even if past politicians used dog whistles instead of bullhorns. Gingrich popularized his smashmouth partisan playbook in the 1980s right in front of the television cameras for all to see. In other words, Donald Trump makes sense because of the history of the Republican Party rather than in spite of it.

IT WAS ALL A LIEHow the Republican Party Became Donald TrumpBy Stuart Stevens256 pp. Knopf. $26.95.

In It Was All a Lie, Stevens, a political consultant, admits there is nothing new under the Republican sun. In his bare-knuckles account, Stevens confesses to the reader that the entire apparatus of his Republican Party is built on a pack of lies. President Trump isnt a freak product of the system, he writes, but a logical conclusion of what the Republican Party became over the last 50 or so years.

This reckoning inspired Stevens to publish this blistering, tell-all history. Viciousness and hypocrisy are everywhere in his story. Stevenss troubling chapter about racism shows clearly how party operatives have capitalized on white resentment for decades. When Lee Atwater admitted in 1981 that Republicans were just using code words to keep talking about race, he was finally being honest. The Republicans whom Stevens worked with championed family values while living Hustler magazine lifestyles. Fiscal conservatism? Republicans never cared about balanced budgets unless a Democrat was in the White House. The one-time party of Lincoln, Stevens explains, is now beholden to a Fox News propaganda network and powerful interest groups. His power-hungry party, Stevens says, is willing to sacrifice the integrity of vital democratic institutions.

Although this book will be a hard read for any committed conservatives, they would do well to ponder it. We see how the modern Republican Party wasnt taken over by Donald Trump. Rather, the party created him. And regardless of what happens in November, it wont look very different unless there are fundamental changes to the coalition that brought conservatism into the halls of power in 1980.

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The Many Varieties of Donald Trump - The New York Times

U.S. President Donald Trump pumps his fists at supporters gathered to greet him on the airport tarmac during his arrival at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., August 6, 2020.

Joshua Roberts | Reuters

President Donald Trump's upcoming fundraising swing through the Hamptons is set to raise $15 million for his campaign and the Republican National Committee.

The proceeds will be going to the Trump Victory Committee, a joint fundraising operation between Trump's campaign, the RNC and a variety of state parties. A committee official confirmed the total and noted that in the wake of the coronavirius pandemic, all attendees must follow local guidelines if they want to take part.

"For fundraisers with the President, the White House Medical Unit and U.S. Secret Service evaluate all attendees in order for them to gain access to the event," this official said. "All attendees must [test] negative for COVID-19 on the day of the event, complete a wellness questionnaire and pass a temperature screening."

The state of New York only allows social gatherings of up to 50 people, whileGov. Andrew Cuomo has continued to call on people across the state to stay socially distant and wear masks.The Hamptons is a region of New York and home to some of the wealthiest business executives in the country.

The president plans to befeaturedatthetwo in-person gatherings on Saturday, including one that will be at the Hamptons home of his son, Donald Trump Jr., and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, who also is a top fundraiser for Trump Victory, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter who declined to be named as the locations are deemed private Trump Jr. reportedly bought the property in Bridgehampton, N.Y. for $4.4 million.

Guilfoyle and Trump Jr., were also set to take part in a separate Trump Victory fundraising event on Thursday in the Hamptons, according to an invite reviewed by CNBC.

For Trump's Saturday afternoon event, tickets start at $50,000 for guests take part in a photo op and watch the president's remark. A ticket for $100,000 gets an attendee a seat at a roundtable discussion with the president. The later event on Saturday will cost up to $500,000 per couple to gain entrance.

The development of the massive fundraising swing comes after Trump's campaign announced that it, combined with the RNC, outraised their opponents in July. Trump and the RNC brought in $165 million last month while Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and the Democratic National Committee, raised $140 million. Trump and his team went into August with a slight cash-on-hand advantage over Biden of $300 million.

Trump Victory officials said their recent fundraising success represents the enthusiastic support for the president.

"I have been traveling around the country with President Trump over the last few weeks, and the level of enthusiasm is even higher than what I saw in 2016," RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told CNBC in a statement. "Everyone is excited to contribute, and those resources are fueling our data-driven ground game and critical legal efforts to protect election integrity."

"As Joe Biden remains locked up in his basement, President Donald J. Trump continues to receive unprecedented support across America," Guilfoyle added. "We outraised Joe Biden last month, and we will do it again. Don Jr. and I are thrilled to be hosting President Trump in New York this week."

Public polling shows Biden ahead of Trump by just more than 6 points, according to a Real Clear Politics polling average.

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Trump and RNC expected to raise $15 million in Hamptons fundraising swing - CNBC

President Donald Trumps penchant for crying hoax gets the treatment in a new ad from the progressive PAC MeidasTouch.

The spot released Friday starts by defining hoax as something intended to deceive or defraud.It cuts to footage of Trump dismissing the climate crisis, the Russia investigation and the coronaviruspandemic as such.

But the hoax is coming from inside the house, text on the screen concludes.

The 75-second video garnered more than 500,000 views in its first four hours on Twitter alone and made the hashtag #TrumpHoaxedAmerica trend worldwide.

Donald Trump is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on America, reads the YouTube description of the clip created by the PACs founders, siblings Ben, Brett and Jordan Meiselas. Its unclear if the ad will air on TV.

Meanwhile, attack ads from the right continue to call out Trump and his administration. Though the ads have proven wildly popular on social media,its unclear whether they can influence swing voters.

The Lincoln Project, founded by conservative attorney George Conway, on Thursday turned a video that Trump has repeatedly shared portraying him as president for life into a blistering criticism of his handling of the pandemic:

And disenchanted Republican veterans explained why theyre planning to vote for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in this viral video created by theRepublican Voters Against Trumpgroup that will air on Fox News:

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Donald Trumps Cries Of Hoax Used Against Him In Stinging New Ad - HuffPost