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US ELECTIONS

Trumpisms

A guide to the property magnate-turned politician’s most-used words and phrases

Donald Trump during a rally in Phoenix, Arizona.
Donald Trump during a rally in Phoenix, Arizona.Ralph Freso (AFP)

Here’s the deal. We all know Mr Trump’s speeches are outrageous in everything from word choice to content. In an average Trump speech, you will probably note words such as “stupid,” “loser,” or “clown.” His vocabulary is vulgar and insulting. But it is also simplistic: “great,” “wall,” “huge,” “amazing.” His speeches are – as he would say – simply “unbelievable.”

According to Politico magazine, when run through the Flesch-Kincaid grade test, Trump’s speeches and comments score at a fourth-grade reading level. This means his vocabulary and sentence structure are on a par with those of a nine-year-old. Nevertheless, his strategy has been useful and has catapulted him to become the Republican Party’s only candidate for the US presidential elections next fall. His anti-establishment attitude and opposition to “political correctness” has tapped into a fraction of Americans who champion Mr Trump’s disrespect for other individuals and religions, as he recently demonstrated in his response speech to the Orlando attacks last Sunday morning.

And like a fourth grader, Mr Trump picks fights. He rants and freestyles, he bashes on anyone who criticizes him and uses an abundance of simple taglines to conquer his audience. In the past months, he has left behind some astonishing remarks: “Our leaders are very, very stupid;” “I don’t have a lot of respect for Jeb [Bush]. Jeb is a lightweight, he’s a spoiled child.” And he doesn’t just take on politicians, he has also targeted journalists. Last August, following a Republican debate, Trump said of female moderator Megyn Kelly that her questions were “ridiculous” and “off-base,” and stated: “You could see she had blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”

In line with such comments, here’s a compilation of the most notable Trumpisms:

“Make America Great Again” – his campaign slogan. Although general opinion does not seem to know what Mr Trump means by this, his plans seem to undoubtedly include a potential ban on Muslims entering the US, “bombing the hell out of ISIS,” and reversing many of Obama’s policies.

“Believe me…” – because I am Trump, I am the best businessman in New York, I have made lots of money in real estate, and “my whole life is about winning. I don’t lose often. I almost never lose.” Mr Trump has generally not advanced many concrete policies to address any of the issues he so frequently criticizes, however, he expects his followers to trust him because he can fix it all.

“A loser/lightweight” – anyone who criticizes Mr Trump. Or anyone except himself. When using these adjectives, Mr Trump has referred to other politicians such as his formal rivals Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz.

“Big league, or bigly– there is still some confusion about what Mr Trump actually says when he so frequently pronounces this set of letters together. Regardless, he refers to the grandiosity of himself and his potential presidency. Some stellar examples are: “We are going to win big league,” or, “We are going to reverse that trend big league.”

“Think about it…” – a phrase often used by Mr Trump in a philosophical and intellectual fashion, to denounce otherwise unseen phenomena: for example, to suggest conspiracy theories, such as the possibility that Mr Obama might be, in some way, acting in a strange way with regard to the recent massacre in Orlando, given his resistance to condemning it using the phrase “radical Islam.”

“Look, folks…” – or, look everyone, here is what is happening and you guys are not understanding. I know it all, so pay close attention; let me show you the path we have to follow to save this country.

“It’s ridiculous” – most things President Obama or Hillary Clinton say or do. The last example that Mr Trump qualified as ridiculous is the “protection that Hillary Clinton receives from President Obama.” But this phrase has also been extended to refer to many things some fellow Republicans have criticized him for. They are “stupid” and naïve – only The Donald knows how to run the country.

“Huge (Yuge)” – Synonym of great, it is used by the candidate to refer to all of his plans, strategies, thoughts, and ideas.

“China” – The country that is “stealing our [Americans’] jobs; beating us in everything; they are winning, we’re losing.”

Watch The Huffington Post’s video of Trump saying “China” 234 times:

“Winning” – It’s all he does. “We will have so much winning if I get elected you may get bored with winning. Believe me. We are going to start winning big league.”

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