Former President Donald Trump remains a mystery to voting Americans.
Key Latin-derived, implied terminologies that he uses are sufficiently clear, however, to allow us to see him as he aspires to be.
For weeks, he has campaigned to intercept the Justice Department’s cascade of indictments for multiple outrageous acts so his supporters won’t have to deal with them.
He claims, indeed, that he acts as a martyr in order to protect those he represents from the pain, suffering and legal threats that, he asserts, would otherwise be directed at each and all of them.
Or is Trump a satyr: A lascivious man, lecherous, ultimately self-indulgent and greedy for power, wealth and universal loyalty, as well as sexual gratification?
Latin may be out of widespread use, but the need for precision in use of language never wanes. Satyr fits Trump more truly than martyr.
Retribution is his other favorite term, testing the judgment of each of us, as he claims that he suffers legal attacks so others don’t have to.
A profound question accompanies his use of the term: Retribution for whom, for what?
Beginning in his New York real estate youth, bestowed by his father, Donald J. Trump has acquired his version of “retribution” from Benito Mussolini and other Italian mob bosses, which is why Latin-derived terms come to mind — along with the guidance of his Russian tutors, all the way up to Vladimir Putin, where Trump learned the form of organization at which he excels: the cult, the autocracy, the dictatorship.
Voters must resist these formulations, regardless of their sources, guided by the Constitution of the United States of America!
Ivan Weber, Salt Lake City
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