Why Does Trump Do That Weird Capitalization Thing? Experts Dissect His Language Patterns.

Studying a typical Truth Social put up from former President Donald Trump is a wild journey, rhetorically talking: There’s name-calling, naturally, and the ALL-CAPS DECLARATIVES about how weak his enemies are. Then there’s the different bizarre factor the previous president does with capitalization, the place he caps the start of phrases for seemingly no good cause.

This post-debate missive from his Fact Social feed is an efficient instance. Notice the random capitalization of the “Radical Left Candidate,” “Second Debate,” and “destroyed our Nation.”

Trump doesn’t save his odd linguistic selections for social media; he’s obtained a novel means of talking, too, together with a behavior of referencing large, summary figures: “Hundreds of thousands and thousands and thousands.” “Billions and billions.” (In 2017, Vice was capable of cobble collectively a two-minute compilation of all of the occasions Trump said “billions and billions” ― consider how lengthy it could be now!)

There’s additionally his sweeping use of “everybody” and “all people.” The times he’s claimed “everybody agrees” are nearly too quite a few to rely.

And we wrote a complete story about his use of the third person: “All of them need the endorsement of Trump,” he stated of his political influence in 2021. “It’s an important treasure.”

What do all these peccadillos of speech imply, if something? Leaving the apparent lies and exaggerations apart, is he simply blithely blind to language conventions, one other Boomer keen on the caps lock, or is he consciously crafting these messages to look and sound the way in which they do?

Some consultants imagine Trump genuinely does use language and elegance as a weapon, together with Jennifer Mercieca, a professor within the division of communication and journalism at Texas A&M College and the writer of “Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump.”

“Trump has been attacking American minds for the previous 9 years,” she stated. “He makes use of language to forestall us from holding him accountable for his phrases and actions.”

As attention-grabbing as it’s to parse Trump’s grammar and distinct communication fashion, some linguists really feel that the content material of his speeches is revealing sufficient by itself.

“When Trump settles on a subject and hammers away at it utilizing lies or outrageous bluster, it has the impact of setting the agenda for everybody,” stated Daniel Midgley, a linguist and co-host of the “Because Language” podcast.

Take into consideration the notorious “they’re eating the dogs” assertion mid-debate this month, Midgley stated. It was “so bizarre and unhinged” that it was all anyone may speak about for 2 weeks, he stated.

“The story was debunked and ridiculed, however that didn’t matter as a result of what was everybody discussing? Immigration, an space the place Trump feels stable,” he stated. “And as a consequence, nobody was speaking about Kamala Harris’ plans for chopping taxes for middle-class households or securing the fitting to decide on.”

However different consultants assume there may be worth in learning how Trump speaks. Under, linguists and different consultants who’ve analyzed Trump’s distinctive use of language share a few of his extra attention-grabbing rhetorical methods.

Using capital letters is designed to sign what students name “language depth,” Mercieca instructed HuffPost.

“Donald Trump is the Outrage President, he doesn’t search to be ‘presidential’ however what he known as ‘modern day presidential,’” the professor stated. “He’s the primary president to make the most of outrage media and the algorithmic bias towards outrage and use it for campaigning and the presidency.”

As Mercieca sees it, Trump is continually feeding outrage content material into the general public sphere ― by means of rallies, tweets and interviews. When he makes use of capital letters in social media posts, it’s designed to sign to the reader that one thing is vital or to hyperlink an intense emotion with the phrases.

“It’s laborious to convey emotion on-line, so we incessantly use emojis ― Trump makes use of capitalization,” she stated. “It’s not too completely different from what 18th-century typesetters did after they had a controversial pamphlet: For instance, have a look at the capitalization from John Dickinson’s 1774 “Letters from a Farmer, in Pennsylvania.”

Is the all-caps technique efficient? Relies on whom you ask.

“All caps appears like shouting to most individuals, so for individuals who are receptive to his messages, I can solely assume the messages really feel impassioned, like he actually cares,” stated Carrie Gillon, a linguist and the cohost of “Vocal Fries,” a podcast about linguistic discrimination.

For individuals who are much less receptive, all caps could come throughout as concurrently infantile and a contact AARP.

“We’ve all recognized that one older one that didn’t know the right way to flip the all-caps off,” Gillion stated. “He clearly does know the right way to flip it on and off, in order that’s not what’s occurring. He’s clearly utilizing it for emphasis. It feels bizarre as a result of he’s a politician, and we count on extra polish in textual content and in individual than we get from him.”

Jesse Egbert, a professor of utilized linguistics at Northern Arizona College, has studied Trump’s distinctive linguistic style, evaluating it to all earlier presidential candidates again to Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy in 1960.

One factor Egbert discovered is that, in comparison with previous candidates, Trump is way extra possible to make use of what he calls “boosted stance” to accentuate claims and get a heightened emotional response from his viewers: “all the time,” “by no means” and different intensifiers like “so far more.”

In his most up-to-date debate with vice chairman Kamala Harris, Trump used a “boosted stance” ― “by no means, ever” ― whereas discussing the battle in Ukraine:

“If I had been president, Russia would have by no means, ever ― I do know Putin very properly. He would have by no means ― and there was no risk of it both, by the way in which, for 4 years ― have gone into Ukraine and killed thousands and thousands of individuals whenever you add it up.”

All these “nevers” and “all the time” add up: “Trump used the phrase ‘by no means’ 27 occasions in the newest debate, greater than 5 occasions as incessantly as Harris who solely used the phrase 5 occasions,” Egbert reported.

The random capitalization ― the “Radical Left Candidate,” “Second Debate,” “destroyed our Nation” in that earlier Fact put up instance ― reminds Gillion of German, in that each one nouns are capitalized in German.

“I doubt that’s what he’s going for ― or I don’t assume it’s in any means acutely aware, anyway ― but it surely’s what I consider each time,” she stated.

As a substitute, Gillion thinks it’s one other type of emphasis, as Trump has said himself.

“Given how laborious tone is to convey over textual content, I believe it’s sort of intelligent to make use of the English writing system on this means,” she stated. “I believe it helps the reader learn his posts in his voice. It’s simply jarring for these of us who aren’t tremendous into the content material of the message. For them, the overuse of capitals could really feel aggressive.”

Listed here are a couple of examples of a number of the occasions Trump has thrown out large numbers:

• “So many a whole bunch and a whole bunch of firms are doing this.” (Trump/Clinton 2016, debate 1)

• “She desires 550% extra individuals than Barack Obama. And he has hundreds and hundreds of individuals. (Trump/Clinton 2016, Debate 3)

• “What she doesn’t say is that President Obama has deported thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of individuals. (Trump/Clinton 2016, Debate 3)

• “However whenever you have a look at what she’s performed to our nation and whenever you have a look at these thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of individuals which might be pouring into our nation month-to-month.” (Trump/Harris 2024, Debate 1)

The obscure numbers in these statements could seem pulled out of nowhere, however surprisingly, most of them are technically correct, albeit at occasions deceptive, Egbert stated. As he defined in an essay he co-wrote about Trump’s language:

“When interpreted actually, ‘thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands’ signifies that there are two million or extra. Within the case of Trump’s reference to Obama’s deportation file, as of the talk, the Obama administration had seen 2.5 million deportations, simply barely over the minimal quantity required to make ‘thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands’ technically correct. It’s possible that not less than some listeners had been picturing many greater than 2.5 million.”

Whereas most candidates use vivid narratives about particular individuals to precise the issues and difficulties confronted by many Individuals, Trump has an unconventional means of depicting such points, stated Jennifer Sclafani, an assistant professor of utilized linguistics on the College of Massachusetts Boston and the writer of “Talking Donald Trump.”

“Trump tends to stay at a really common stage, linguistically talking, referring to ‘they’ or ‘them,’ or ‘the individuals,’ by no means specifying precisely what people or teams he’s referring to, besides to label individuals as ‘good’ or ‘dangerous,’” Sclafani instructed HuffPost.

We see this within the instance of “they’re consuming the canines, they’re consuming the cats” within the final debate: “He by no means explicitly acknowledged who ‘they’ had been. As a substitute, he left it as much as the viewers to attach the dots and notice it was immigrants,” she stated.

It must be famous that this can be a regular characteristic of on a regular basis dialog, Sclafani stated: “We depend on our listeners to do some interpretive work at any time when we discuss, as a result of we assume familiarity, however it’s uncommon to take action in a proper public speech.”

As Mercieca has shared before, when Trump fabricates, he tends to pile the fibs on so it’s troublesome for the listener to maintain observe of every assertion.

“As an interviewer, you attempt to get Trump to particularly reply a query, however he tells 20 lies within the course of and you may’t cease every of these 20 lies, particularly for those who deal with the one query you’re making an attempt to get a solution,” she tweeted last year after his “Meet The Press” interview. “That’s known as ‘Gish gallop’ by outdated timey propaganda of us.”

Within the research of rhetorics, paralipsis is a tool the place you draw consideration to a subject by denying that it’s being mentioned: “I’m not saying you’re accountable for spilling that tumbler of milk,” for example, which leaves the milk spiller feeling very accountable.

Trump is an enormous fan of utilizing paralipsis, Mercieca stated.

“You’ll typically hear him say ‘I’m not saying’ or ‘I’m simply saying,’” she stated. “Paradoxically, he’ll say two issues directly to disclaim accountability: I used to be simply utilizing sarcasm, I’m not saying he conspired, but it surely was written within the papers.”

In an MSNBC interview, linguist John McWhorter commented that the way in which Trump speaks is “oddly adolescent.”

May somebody whose speech is the equal of a teen boy’s actually succeed at being manipulative? Is he a talented orator in his personal means, or simply one other undisciplined yapper on the web (or possibly a little bit of each)?

“I truly do assume he is aware of what he’s doing, although maybe not absolutely consciously,” Gillon stated. “It’s unimaginable to know, after all, however the feeling I get from Trump is that he’s very canny, and tries plenty of methods and makes use of no matter works within the second, and what has labored previously for him.”

That doesn’t imply the previous president is plotting all of it out, studying Aristotle’s “Rhetoric” and even considering too deeply about how he sounds. On the coronary heart of it, he’s far more of an ad-libber, Gillon argued. And though his speech and textual content could really feel adolescent, this may make his messages simpler to know and take up for individuals who are receptive to it.

“It in all probability helps together with his demagoguery, the ‘man of the individuals’ vibe,” Gillon stated. “I can’t consider anybody who talks fairly like Trump. He does really feel distinctive. Whereas all of the methods he makes use of have been utilized by others ― fascist regimes, for instance ― his explicit fashion is all his personal: Trumpian.”