I honestly never thought the level of outrage over this election would have sustained such apoplectic level nearly a year after the election but it has.
However, the triggers for the outrage seem to have de-evolved from the elaborate conspiracy theories to the simplest errors in speech.
We seem to have gone from an absolute certainty that the President won the election through undefined conspiracy with the support of Russian agents to outrage over mispronouncing the name of an African nation that none of them could find on a map.
I can only imagine what minuscule reason will cause the next screaming rant of hatred. The color of his shoes?
outrage over mispronouncing the name of an African nation
The reason the error is noteworthy is because Trump made it
and he made it after having made attestations such as those noted above and he made the mistake he did in the setting where he made it. The notable aspects of Trump's so-called mispronunciation is that it is yet another illustration/intimation of the following:
- We cannot rely on even the most basic promises/assertions Trump makes.
- Trump said he'll hire the best people. Among those people are speechwriters, ostensibly "the best" ones. Did they do their homework, or even just proofread the document? Or run "spellcheck?" That speech and the luncheon at which it was delivered didn't "sneak up on" anybody. It was not an impromptu event or speech.
- That Trump twice in one read speech "mispronounced" Namibia, as is claimed, suggests the quality control process at the WH just isn't working.
- Trump has numerous times boasted that he is smart. Once again we see he is not.
- Do smart people flub the name of a nation, while talking to the head of state of that nation at an event one is hosting, and not notice it, not apologize, not correct themselves, or immediately do/say something other than leave it to folks back in Washington to "atone" for one's error?
- Screw, smart in a "book smart" way. How about just smart enough to be courteous?
- The gaffe repetition suggests Trump is/was not himself fully engaged in what he's doing. It seems as though someone just handed him a speech and he just stood up and read it. Mind you, there's no one right way to get a speech composed and delivered, but all the right ways involve doing at least one "dry run" of the thing and making sure the damn thing doesn't have misspellings, grammatical errors and other tripping points in it. That's just how smart people go about things that are important; they don't leave it to chance.
- Given the race-related animus toward Trump, one'd have thought he and his team would have gone out of their way not to let happen anything that might be construed as a sign of Trump's insouciance toward minorities, most especially when delivering a speech to a room full of minority heads of state. Can one make a race "thing" of the gaffe? Probably not much of one, if at all. One can say, however, that an unforced gaffe of the sort Trump made where and when he made it damn sure didn't help ameliorate his image among minorities.
Let's be clear. Merely making the mistake is far less the issue. How it happened and was handled after it happened is what disconcerts me. And let's be clear. It is made all the more bothersome when considered in context, one aspect of which is that it was the POTUS who made it and it was the POTUS and his team who mishandled it. Handled with aplomb, that Trump made the mistake wouldn't at all be something to talk about.
mispronouncing the name of an African nation that none of them could find on a map.
Well, then, identify for the world where Nambia is among the nations of Africa.