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One can't help having a sneaking admiration for Gen. Z for its facility in giving a new twist to 'trad vocab'. ( traditional vocabulary for those long in tooth or toothless!). It does leave the conservative cohort befuddled by the long-tailed inventory of abbreviations instead of 'propah' English.
The Grammar Nazis insist on using the old-fashioned language and berate the fact that language like history is being laid on a Procrustean bed and slashed and abbreviated to suit the texting world of the young cyber denizens.
The prelude above is relevant to Dyslexic Donald (the adjective is not for disparaging a random disability) and his delusional mind. His recent address from the podium left the phalanx of global diplomats attending the United Nations in stunned disbelief.
The Big Chief , without the teleprompter , was unable to utter even a few words that could faintly smack of gravitas. A podium from where brilliant speeches have been delivered became an occasion for American prestige and power to be ground into dust because of a man who, as the memes say, makes Nero seem stable.
He has been playing tariff 'escalatio' with nations but his speech(?) was a series of whines from the malfunctioning of the escalator half way up , to bemoaning the fact that he was denied the contract for renovating the United Nations in the 1990's, talking about climate change as a hoax and demonising immigrants--- his favourite hobby horse--- and other such inanities. It is for the first time that the chief helmsman of America, a global superpower is the laughing stock of the world (MAGA and the rightist votaries excluded)!
Pure Kafka-esque theatre! Don J. Trump is no mafia don, though his actions fit in with that breed. Unlike the mafiosi, Donald has no Omertà (a code of silence ) as he revels in betraying friends and befriending foes when it suits him! Look at the many fallen angels who were his best buddies : Elon Musk, Steve Bannon, John Bolton and John Kelley to name a few. Epstein is another sensational story that is awaiting a denouement.
Trump's recent address at the Marine Corps Base Quantico was another instance of his gauche behaviour in handling the military top brass by body shaming the generals and giving veiled threats. "Enshittification" is a scatological term coined by the Canadian author Cory Doctorow in 2022.Though the term pertains to commerce where initial offerings are degraded later to maximise profits, it can be applied to Trump's promises of good governance degrading into a Divided States of America.
The current global disorder, glaringly evident on the geo-political chessboard, flows from the flip-flop policies of Trump assisted by a cabinet that believes in max machismo without any diplomatic finesse. From the halcyon days of 'Howd'y Modi', it is now a bizarre spectacle of Salaam Pakistan. Rolling out the red carpet for Pakistan with White House luncheon invites for Field Marshal Asim Munir and the Prime Minister with repeat visits. Trump's fabled transactional diplomacy in full play. Pakistan is also playing Trump for becoming relevant again . It takes two to Tango anyway.
Modi has been put on the back burner for not giving in to Trump's tariff demands entirely with no red lines . Not acceptable to a sovereign nation. India bolstering the BRICS group has riled Trump no end. Narendra Modi has Shanghaied the Trump firman and supped with the devil! Putin , of course, being an India ally is a given, but for Modi to make overtures to Xi Jinping at SCO seems to have made Donald go ballistic at this new bromance.
The scientific humour magazine, 'Annals of Improbable Research' hands out an Ig Nobel prize at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. There is a 'Parade of Ignitaries'. This sounds like a perfect fit for our White House occupant, but for sanity to prevail again, the leaders of different stripes in a crumbling world order will have to forget about the Nobel Peace Prize going only to a leader deserving genuine peace.
Perhaps, time to put Trump out of his misery and pull the rest of the world out of this surreal phantasmagoria. With official demands from the White House podium via the press Secretary Leavitt, (can't possibly 'leave it' any more) and remain unscathed. The list of wars mediated and stopped by the Prez is getting longer and more fictional. Let's just give him his coveted Nobel and sleep well please!
Ushi Kak aka Kashpundit, an author and a columnist, writes satire generally. Views expressed here are the writer's own.
