1. Deceit, fraud
2. Anything calculated to deceive by false show; anything externally splendid but of little intrinsic value; worthless finery.
3. Things worn out and of no value; useless matter; trifles; rubbish; nonsense.
That’s the definition in the 1983 Webster’s Dictionary.
H/T: Andrea Gabor on Twitter.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Truly a dictionary ahead of its time. Very accurate description of our Orange Buffoon.
Agree. I will pass this along.
Well, some things never change.
Like!
Spread the word
Sent from my iPhone
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The Epic of Donald Trump
By Garrison Keillor, The Washington Post
19 March 17
The $54 billion bonus heading for the Pentagon is a beautiful thing, and so far I haven’t heard a dog bark against it, even though we don’t appear to have $54 billion worth of new enemies and we’ve now come to admire former enemy Vladimir Putin, and the idea of throwing billions at the Islamic State is like going after bedbugs with bazookas, so there it sits, a big lake of cash waiting for water skiers….
What we need to make America great again is American literature about greatness. Look at Leo Tolstoy. He could’ve just written “Peace” but he wrote “War.” too, both of them, glorifying General Mikhail Kutuzov, who engineered the defeat of Napoleon. Spending some of that $54 billion on the arts would be an excellent investment. If they need someone to write an epic poem, here I am, my pen is poised.
Media to the right of him,
Media to the left of him,
Democrats embittered.
Loud was his battle cry,
The man with long red tie,
Onward he twittered.
Rising in early dawn,
Turning his smartphone on,
Texting he bravely fought,
Tweet after tweet he shot
With his red hat on,
Looking like George C. Scott
Playing George Patton.
It’s the story of a man who overcame his heel-spur handicap by playing golf regularly and eventually took command in his bomber jacket and led the country to greatness. It’s going to be fantastic. I promise you.
Hey, lighten up! Can’t you enjoy a joke?
OOPs, I meant to post this as a response to Linda, below, but, somehow by the time I hit the ‘Post’ button, you had posted and become the recipient. I’ll try to ‘cut-n-paste’ to get the above message to it’s intended target.
Who knows how these things work (or why they don’t)? Your post of Keiller’s WAPO exercise is probably the most funny thing I have ever heard him say or write. I loved his spoof on Kipling.
Shame on you. You should know that Family Names do NOT have the same meanings as common words. Names generally originated from an individual’s OCCUPATION. In Middle English “Trump” is for a TRUMPETER. In High Middle German the name is for a “trump” DRUMMER. This is according to ANCESTRY. COM.
Linda:
Trump’s family name is Drumpf.
Hey, lighten up! Can’t you enjoy a joke?
Oh, for Pity’s sake! Why can’t I get this message to Linda? I give up.
As a linguist, it is entertaining to define a surname and make a present day connection. In this case, one might say he is just beating his drum to his personal tune of discord….and everyone is responding unanimously……he is “a nut job”!
While it is an amusing coincidence to note in passing, I personally would prefer not to focus on it. There are many highly legitimate reasons to object to Mr. Trump’s manner & actions, & when I see comments making fun of someone’s name, it suggests to me that they don’t have any legitimate arguments, or that any other arguments they offer don’t carry much weight. Particularly in this case, there’s certainly no shortage of reasonable, factual points to bring up about him.
Hey, lighten up! Can’t you enjoy a joke?
Yes, I can; I said it was amusing! I was anticipating (maybe incorrectly) it’s spreading beyond this board where most are sympathetic to its point. I just think it’s important for it to remain a light joke, & not distract people from the (unfortunately) very serious business of dealing with Trump’s policies. Not all comment boards are as friendly as we are to the views prevalent here, & I’ve seen some commenters dilute the weight of legitimate points they make with things that serve no purpose other than to antagonize the people they’re trying to convince. I apologize if I offended anyone here with my view, just trying to keep perspective.
— should be “its spreading” — @(#$*& spellcheck!
Oh, that “…take a joke” was for Linda? Well, in any case, I just clarified my point! 🙂
Oh, NO!!! Once again, I meant to send this to Linda (above), not you! I’ll try again, (quickly) before the univers once again implodes
🙂
Ironic how the 1983 definition of trump is most fitting. Unfortunately, the definition which resonates the most in the minds of Americans and Germans (“trumpf”) is to “outdo”. George Lakeoff, the renowned professor of linguistics stated that if his name was ” Twimp”, most likely no one would have voted for him.