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Of Nasties and Nicknames: Or, What To Call Trump When You Must Call Him *Something* [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-08-08

Some recommended reading for an early Tuesday morning, with a few opinions attached of course. And a suggestion for those who are not of Twitter’s ecology, yet are sincerely and utterly convinced their heads can’t withstand the pressure of 24/7 continuous self control in matters nominative. It’s a constructive suggestion, even. No snark, or perhaps unique snark, snark that falls within delectably legal and accurate bounds.

The first reading: Amanda Marcotte, at Salon, has an excellent piece on the Troll Ecology Of Twitter, which is of course not limited to Twitter. I particularly enjoy her characterization of a form of contrarian trollishness that seems popular with hobbyists as well as professionals. [When is an edgelord not an edgelord?]

From Marcotte’s piece: did you know there is a young professor at American University, Brian Hughes, who has co-founded a lab there for the study of extremism? It has the best acronym I have ever seen: the P olarization and E xtremism R esearch and I nnovation L ab (PERIL). See Marcotte’s article.

olarization and xtremism esearch and nnovation ab See Marcotte’s article. And a pull quote from Marcotte that is suitable for framing: in fact, this dependent clause deserves to be its own complete paragraph.

..it's a good thing to interrupt the supply chain of liberal outrage fueling the trolling-industrial complex...

Now that’s a hobby I can get behind. Read the article. I’m willing to bet you bookmark it.

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The second reading: and now for matters nominative. Another article, this one by former New York prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo, writing at Meidas Touch Network. [Edit in: her thesis, of which I heartily approve, is that it’s long past time to stop babying this jerk. Do read, it’s a delight.]

For those who will simply burst if they do not express their contempt for all things Trump, she provides the perfect, legally correct, factually correct solution: Defendant Trump . Not “president”. Not “president * ”. Not “TFG”, which ostensibly stands for “The Former Guy” but, come on, we all pronounce mentally as “That F*cking Grifter”, don’t we? I know I do. Nope, just three little syllables that say so much: Defendant. Soon, we hope, morphing into Inmate, or Convict, or both, Oh Happy Day.

Not “president”. Not “president ”. Not “TFG”, which ostensibly stands for “The Former Guy” but, come on, we all pronounce mentally as “That F*cking Grifter”, don’t we? I know I do. Nope, just three little syllables that say so much: Defendant. Soon, we hope, morphing into Inmate, or Convict, or both, Oh Happy Day. Reading her article and reveling in that nomenclature, it occurred to me that perhaps there is even a form of address that could be used for Defendant Trump’s acolytes without crossing the lines of propriety: MAGsters. Obvious callback to “gangsters”, with the advantage of being true while referencing a very human activity, if an unfortunate one. And how often do we see Defendant Trump referred to as a mob boss? It’s a natural. One might even wonder if MAGA really stands for Make America Gangland Again, in a reference to those heady days of Capone and Dillinger and Siegel, which were also replete with automatic gunfire.

Well, that’s it for me for now. If anyone finds a pic of Jack Smith as a cat, or vice versa, that respects the dignity of both cat and man, and is legally usable as an image here, do me a solid, and enhance our image library with it?

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/8/2185939/-Of-Nasties-and-Nicknames

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