Reduce vocabulary, and you reduce the capacity for complex thought

A few years ago on Valentine’s Day, I sang in a Barbershop Quartet for a friend’s kindergarten class. When we finished, one of the children — without being prompted — exclaimed, “That was expensive.” We took it as a sincere and generous compliment. After all, this little girl had reached deep into the recesses of her vocabulary and offered us the highest praise she could muster, based on three years of socialization and maybe six months of formal education.

That was acceptable — even touching — coming from a four-year-old.

Unfortunately, the President of the United States seems to have only a slightly larger vocabulary than that kindergartener. At best, he speaks at a fourth-grade level. When confronted by a journalist or anyone he considers an adversary, his responses are rarely more nuanced than, “That was a nasty question,” or “You’re not being very nice.” How far away are we from "nanny nanny boo boo?" We've gone from "Ask not what your country can do for you" to "I know you are, but what am I?"

It was Orwell who warned us: “Reduce vocabulary, and you reduce the capacity for complex thought.”

In the second Trump White House, there is no diplomacy. Instead, he's driven by “making deals.” It’s tragic — and dangerous — that the leader of the free world can express himself no better. A man who cannot say what he means certainly cannot mean what he says. Worse still, everyone in his orbit seems either equally oratorically challenged or is actively capitulating to his limited level of literacy.

Trump began his so-called “Liberation Day” campaign with a grand promise: 90 deals in 90 days. To date, he’s managed one — with Great Britain — and even that one is unclear at most, shaky at best.

The reality is, there are no deals. Trump created the problem by first claiming that his tariffs would generate unprecedented revenue — with no proof, no explanation, no math. He was so eager to make a deal, he gave legitimacy to his own reckless policy.

We should have seen it coming. Before the election, he stood before the New York Economic Club and assured them that none of the looming problems would matter — because his tariffs would magically bring in all this money. They stared blankly at him during the entire speech, knowing they were witnessing lunacy. Then they endorsed him anyway.

It’s one thing for cabinet-level sycophants to pretend his ideas make sense. But now, we have reporters on networks beyond Fox News asking so-called experts when the tariffs will start working. They either look shocked when credible economists say “never,” or elated when partisan soothsayers chirp, “Oh, any day now!”

They behave as though the truth matters less than whatever will earn the most likes on their Facebook pages.

I'm just saying ...