I get the whole tiny vocab thing, but keep in mind: This is part of his allure for his target audience. “He tells it like it is.” “He’s one of us.” “He doesn’t speak down to us.” “He’s not some elitist or academic telling everyone what to think.” Etc. etc. I think it even helps him pretend he’s with them “punching up,” avoiding the reality that he’s a plutocrat looking for the power to really really punch down hard.
Very illuminating article:
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To be fair, do they ignore accepted idiom and colloquialisms? Spoken word is much different than on paper, and it is in many ways acceptable to be ignoring grammar when speaking lest you sound like an asshat. Looking at the chart, for example, I suspect you see Bubba’s scores coming in middling because he very deliberately toned himself down to be relatable and make his subject matter understandable to a wider audience. He’s always been praised as The Explainer, and to some extent that had to be a deliberate decision, not a reflection of his normal speech patterns and what not. Speaking in High Faloot like Lincoln did just wouldn’t be effective or even acceptable now.
In contrast, with Trump, nothing is deliberative. It’s all off the cuff, visceral…raw verbal diarrhea and tangential outbursts. The assessment of his vocabulary and grammar when speaking seems more accurate as a result.
Anyhoo, $0.02. I’d probably find it a little more telling if we could find a discussion of speech patterns from a real psychological standpoint, because Trump seems to me to exhibit much of the kinds of tangential thought and speech patterns, disordered thinking and speech, perseveration, repetition, etc., indicative of real mental illness and which gets missed by a discussion from a purely linguistic standpoint.
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Can’t you tell he’s use to cheating on tests?
Wow, though. What a creep.
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No-body is smiling.
Isn’t that what you ‘do’ when meeting a throng on Election Day.
Especially when you make an effing show of it.
What kind of complete wankers do you have to be–
to go out in public today-- and not be prepared for this possibility/probability?
Normally? I’d be celebrating starting about 8pm tonight.
But the softball team I manage/play for opens our Winter season at 7:45pm CST.
By the time we’re done-- I expect FL to have been called for HRC.
Then I’m gonna’ go pop some tops!
jw1
And what would he have done if he had looked over there and she had voted for Hillary I wonder?
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I’m sure she voted for him, but it’s not going to change his behavior later on. I wouldn’t want to be Melania tonight. Yikes.
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O god I wouldn’t want to be either. I’ve been thinking about that for a couple of days.
She should have already left for Europe a week ago.
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I have no doubt he suffers from one or more diagnosable psychological impairments or defects. ADHD seems a sure bet, along with a level of narcissism that probably has no peers. He’s a sick puppy, and the fact the GOP establishment let him get this far is troubling. We’re a two party system, and I agree with many students of political systems that two healthy, competitive parties with diverse ideas and policy approaches is important. The GOP does not qualify as such a party. They forfeited any claim to legitimacy in nominating Trump, both the party functionaries and the citizens that conspired with them.
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Indeed. They don’t meet the qualifier of “operating in good faith” that should perhaps be inserted in that sentence.
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I guess my use of the descriptive “healthy” was meant to imply being possessed of a measure of good faith.
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Did anyone else notice Donnie entering the school through the handicapped doors? Glad he’s embraced his true nature.
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LOL, oh. Well, I agree with you on that one, too. But it’s funny that whatever she used to write her words is now all over the man’s hands. 
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I wonder if Trump spent the time to vote for down ballot candidates or initiatives or if he simply put a mark by his name and left the premises. Given the cameras there to film him it seems certain a thoughtful reporter could determine this. If he was out of there in 30 seconds or less it would show he is:
a. selfish
b. oblivious
c. depressed and uncaring
d. choices a. and b.
e. all of the above
Well, they just had to run a gauntlet of their fellow New Yorkers booing them. Must be disconcerting, if not frightening. They’re definitely not used to it.
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww. Just reading that gives me the “icks”.
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Who knows, but I think Pokey’s a mental and/or physical twelve-year old who deliberately says stupid stuff just to get a reaction. The dumbest kind of troll. Not even worth a glance, much less analysis.
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Now my husband is going to be griping all day because nobody like that protested at our polling place.
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Could we file a request with ICE for a review of Melania’s immigration status? 
All the way to prison.