Translating Trump June 26, 2023June 25, 2023 This is old, so you may have seen it. But it’s great: How would you translate what Donald Trump really means when he says certain words or phrases? Ross Cohen B.A. in History and Political Science I’ve cracked his code and am happy to share it with you. This should save you time because he repeats from a fairly limited set of code words: Nobody knew / People don’t realize / People don’t know “I just learned this thing everyone already knows” Ex:“Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated.” Ex:“People don’t know this about Iraq, but they have among the largest oil reserves in the world.” Ex:“Abraham Lincoln…most people don’t even know he was a Republican.” Believe me “You shouldn’t believe me” “I don’t have a real argument to back this up” Ex: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.” Ex: “We are going to get rid of the criminals, and it’s going to happen within one hour after I take office.… Believe me.” Ex: “And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm.” Ex: “And believe me, I’ll win that case [regarding Trump University]. That’s an easy case.” (had to pay $25 million) Ex: “And I was always against going into Iraq. In fact, I — believe me, I was always against it.” (false) And that’s just the first two — there are more than 50, plus 31 footnotes. Have fun. I can’t imagine Trump will be the nominee, but thanks largely to him we live in crazy times, so who knows? I also doubt it will be Chris Christie, given what the once-Grand Old Party has come to, and Trump’s still-enormous support among primary voters. We should remind those who believe it’s a witch hunt: Witch hunt is not one of the Trump terms “translated” above, but when Trump says “witch hunt,” read: “Oh, my God, I am totally, ridiculously guilty — but who cares? I could walk down Fifth Avenue shooting people and you’d still be with me, because you love me and I won by a landslide. Biggest Inaugural crowd in history. Covfefe.” Have a great week.