Itâs easy to caricaturize a living, breathing caricature, which is why Donald Trump impersonations are so simple to do. Just pucker your lips, exude insecurity, whine about the media, and boast that you grab women by the genitals. Oh, and donât forget to talk about âthe blacks,â âthe Hispanicsâ and âthe Muslims,â and how much they all love you. Because why shout âIâm a racistâ explicitly when you can let more subtle language do the talking for you?
âI have a great relationship with the blacks,â Trump said back in 2011, a statement that wasnât true then and is comically off-base now. âIâve always had a great relationship with the blacks.â
âWeâre going to have great relationships with the Hispanics,â he said after an Indiana primary win in February. âThe Hispanics have been so incredible to me.â
Trumpâs use of the definite articleââtheââin discussing racial and religious minorities, and other historically marginalized groups, tells us all we need to know about how he views them. Itâs a rhetorical way of separating âusâ from âthem,â a clear means of dividing the âregularâ white people from all âthe others.â
âI love the Muslims,â Trump told CNN last yearâwhich⊠give us an effing break already. âI think theyâre great people.â
Writing at Quartz, linguist Lynne Murphy takes apart Trumpâs use of âtheâ when speaking of black people and others, noting that it turns groups of individuals into faceless monoliths. Consider it a sort of stripping away of humanity that turns millions of people who happen to share some common traits into an âundifferentiated whole.â
ââTheâ makes the group seem like itâs a large, uniform mass, rather than a diverse group of individuals,â Murphy writes. âThis is the key to âotheringâ: treating people from another group as less human than oneâs own group. The Nazis did it when they talked about die Juden (âthe Jewsâ). Homophobes do it when they talk about âthe gays.ââ
(For example, homophobe Donald Trump, just days after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, told a crowd, âAsk the gays what they think and what they do, in, not only Saudi Arabia, but many of these countries, and then you tell me: Whoâs your friend, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?â)
âThereâs this distancing effect, like theyâre over there,â Eric Acton, a linguist at Eastern Michigan University, told Business Insider. âTheyâre signaling theyâre not part of itâtheyâre distancing themselves from it.â
âItâs drawing a circle around a certain group of people,â University of Toronto linguist Sali Tagliamonte told the outlet. âItâs a very straight-jacketing kind of expression. Itâs a very delineating thing that could make members of that group think theyâre being pigeonholed.â
Atlanticcontributor David A. Graham notes that when Trump speaks to his baseâwhich is almost solely whiteâhe dispenses with âtheâ and talks in terms of âwe.â He tells crowds, âWeâre going to make America great again.â At the RNC, he opened his speech by stating, âWeâre gonna win, weâre gonna win so big!â At a rally last week in Pennsylvania, he told the assembled faithful, âWeâre going to beat the system, and weâre going to un-rig the system.â Graham points to this quote, which is just bursting with âweâ:
âWeâre going to bring back our jobs, and weâre going to save our jobs, and people are going to have great jobs again, and this country, which is very, very divided in so many different ways, is going to become one beautiful loving country, and weâre going to love each other, weâre going to cherish each other and take care of each other, and weâre going to have great economic development and weâre not going to let other countries take it away from us, because thatâs whatâs been happening for far too many years and weâre not going to do it anymore.â
âPart of Trumpâs rhetorical power is his supercharged used of âwe,â a method that persuades people across the country that they are part of a larger movement, and somehow share with Trump his aura of wealth and luxury. (Itâs the same technique heâs used to sell real estate for years.),â Graham writes. But when Trump refers to minorities not as âweâ but âthe,â itâs an indicator âthat for Trump, blacks and Hispanics arenât part of âweâââtheyâ constitute separate groups.â
It also shows that when Trump talks about âthe blacksâ and âthe gaysâ and âthe Muslims,â he isnât really talking to those groups. Heâs talking to âusââthe angry, minority-mistrusting whites who make up his base.
âAlso, when Trump describes any group of people, he always describes them as if their name was a category on a PornTube site,â Desus Nice, one half of the comedy duo behind the podcast Bodega Boys, told Buzzfeed.
Murphy notes that when Hillary Clinton uses the definite article, she does so in a completely dissimilar fashion. âThe difference is that when Clinton talks about the Russians, the Syrians, the Iranians, and the Kurds, sheâs talking about governments or military groups, not everyone of that particular nationality.â
The Internet has, of course, noticed Trumpâs racist phrasing, to go along with all the other racist aspects of his campaign. #TheAfricanAmericans hashtag, and related tweets, appeared on Twitter to point out how ridiculous the term sounds every time it leaves Trumpâs mouth.
At some point along the way in his campaign, someone on Donald Trumpâs team seems to have given him a little advice on this. But it was the wrong advice. Now, instead of dropping âtheâ before he discusses the abysmal lives and futures of minoritiesâbecause Trump would have us believe minorities live in hellscapes where rainy days mean bullets are falling from the skyâthe candidate has switched out âAfrican Americanâ for âblackâ and âLatinoâ for âHispanic,â presumably because he thinks itâs more respectful.
âThey have no education, they have no jobs,â Trump said at the end of Wednesday nightâs debate. âI will do more for African Americans and Latinos than she can ever do in ten lifetimes. All she has done is talk to the African Americans and to the Latinos.â
Maybe you should talk to some of the African Americans and the Latinos, Trump. Theyâd tell you that youâre still getting it terribly, offensively wrong.
Kali Holloway is a senior writer and the associate editor of media and culture at AlterNet.
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.Â
Photo:Â A person holds a sign reading âLatinos for Trumpâ on the third day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 20, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
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