If you didn't see Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver last night, his Main Story was a scathing, blunt look of the far-right acceptance into the MAGOP mainstream of white extremists and neo-Nazis. He's able to make the piece very funny, but it's no less brutal for it. And detailed, bringing the receipts, as the expression goes, including a great deal of video from those who often insist they've been misquoted or taken out of context.
When talking yesterday about the Alaska senatorial election, Trump said, "A lot of people don’t know what 'incumbent' means."
Perhaps this is true, although it relies on Trump's definition of "a lot of people," which often means "At least one more person than just himself." But of course what is equally true is that most people most assuredly know exactly what 'incumbent' means.
One day, when Trump says one of these things about what a lot of people don't know, I'd love to hear someone in the back shout, "Yes!! Almost everyone knows what that means!! (I'd also love someone in the front to shout that, along with a follow-up: "Why do you think a lot of people don't know it? Do you think people are that incredibly stupid? Or is that just you who didn't know?")
The one good thing about Trump's quote is that at least this time he didn't also say that "Many people don't know there's a "b" in the word "incumbent." And that's especially good and something we should be particularly grateful for because, if he went through his usual Trump convoluted analysis of etymology and described what the word would be without a "b", the result would be so crass that the clip would have be be censored.
Well, add "incumbent" to the list of words Trump seems to believe that most people don't know. Or at least I hope that's what it means, because the alternative is that Trump didn't know and only just learned it.
Trump's list of words he says that a lot of people don't know now includes the words "groceries", "affordability", and "dumb". It also includes the information that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, that reforming health care can be complicated, that "nobody knows what a magnet is" and that many people don't know the difference between the words "sea" and see."
However, what this list also includes are words and phrases that Trump says people didn't know, not because they hadn't learned them yet, but because Trump said that he himself made them up -- like the phrases "priming the pump" and "equalizing" and even his core catchphrase, "Make America Great Again." (Yes, Trump insists he made this up -- and when it was brought to his attention that Ronald Reagan used it in his 1980 presidential campaign, he said the big difference is that Reagan only said, "Let's Make America Great," with no "Again". Except that (putting the difference aside and Trump's obsessive need to claim ownership of it) "Let's Make America Great Again" was part of Reagan's campaign slogan.)
And, of course, we're leaving out the words most people didn't know because Trump actually did them make up, though not intentionally, but were symptoms of paraphasia, a condition of dementia where the person can't think of a word and makes up one in its place. This includes "Renoversh”, ““Pivobal”, “Succential”, "Chrishus", “Patri-skfjsk”, Mishuz”, “Space capiscle”, “Illegal adlinthin” and “Combat infantroopen,” among others.
And then there are his written words that no one knew before, most famously "covfefe."
But though it's hard to not put his relentless explanation of people not knowing how to spell "dumb" (which is so ethereal for its irony) and his coming up with the spelling of "Dumbocrats", I think that "Priming the pump" remains my favorite. Not because he insists he made up the phrase and said so during a campaign rally, but mainly because he had this exchange in an interview with The Economist, a publication that (as you might imagine) knows a great deal about the economy.
TRUMP: We’re the highest-taxed nation in the world. Have you heard that expression before, for this particular type of an event?
ECONOMIST: Priming the pump?
TRUMP: Yeah, have you heard it?
ECONOMIST: Yes.
TRUMP: Have you heard that expression used before? Because I haven’t heard it. I mean, I just… I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good. It’s what you have to do.
Of course, in the end, we should expect all these great words from Trump that no one knew before he told us about them or made them up. Because, lest we forget, he's the same guy who told us, "I'm very highly educated. I know words. I have the best words."
By the way, many people don't know that the word "best" has a "b" in it.
Here we have another entry in that collection of musical theater treasures I mentioned the other day, true gems that I had collected and forgot what was in the file of them I had put together, which I explained how they came about here.
This is from the 1998 Broadway production of High Society, the stage adaptation of the Cole Porter movie musical that starred Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly – which was based on the movie and play, Philadelphia Story. The movie only had about six songs, so they added a bunch of other Cole Porter numbers to fill out the show.
What makes this such a treasure to find is that it’s a full scene and song that features its young supporting actress – Anna Kendrick, at age 12. In fact, not only was she in the show, but she got a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a musical. (And won the Broadway World Award.)
The scene has to be explained in context, or else it will seem too weird. The female lead, Tracy Lord (played by Melissa Erico) is getting married, and two gossip journalists want to report on the wedding since the family is fabulously wealthy. Tracy doesn’t want them there, nor does her little sister (played by Anna Kendrick). So, the sisters decide to give the reporters exactly what they want – two overly-spoiled, rich brats, and they put on an over-the-top pretentious "performance," which leads to them singing one of the interpolated Cole Porter songs, “I Love Paris.” So, just know, they’re trying to be utterly annoying and ostentatious here.
(By the way, a while back, I posted a hilariously wonderful video that Anna Kendrick did at the same time as part of a PBS special about Broadway. I saw it live, but had no idea who the little girl was. But the number was so funny and clever I always remembered it. And later put two-and-two together. If you want to see it, highly recommended, the link is here.)
But first, here is High Society with Melissa Errico – and 12-year-old Tony nominee Anna Kendrick.
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Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting.
Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, has two sort-of best-selling novels, and was a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and Huffington Post. Among his other writing, he's had a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel. As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.
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