Donald Trump isn’t exactly known for his precision in word choice. I mean — Dayton/Toledo, tomato/tomahto — right?
Still, there’s that fine line between embarrassing gaffe and outright Freudian slip. Early Tuesday morning, our duly-elected whiner-in-chief tweeted an almost unremarkable complaint about his being held accountable for lack of effective gun control:
“Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control. Mass shootings were happening before the President even thought about running for Pres.” @kilmeade @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2019
The very on-brand tweet would likely have avoided headlines but for that one word: “reign.”
Twitter was quick to call out the president for his choice of monarchical language.
“Reign.” https://t.co/7Sp5BFWGWq
— Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) (@HC_Richardson) August 6, 2019
“Reign”
— Jerry Saltz (@jerrysaltz) August 6, 2019
His “reign.”
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) August 6, 2019
Sometimes, it’s the little things. His term. During his *term*, not his *reign*. pic.twitter.com/tiKC0U14zN
— Kieran Healy (@kjhealy) August 6, 2019
Reign? Reign?? Reign??????? It isn’t a reign, slim. It is a term. Monarch and despots have reigns. Take your meds, sport.
— Llonya (@Lonya53) August 6, 2019
According to Merriam-Webster, “reign,” used as a noun, is defined as, “royal authority,” “sovereignty,” or, “the dominion, sway, or influence of one resembling a monarch.” So, basically, exactly what the term of President of the United States was not meant to be. That’s probably why #”reign” is trending on Twitter.
This a good time to point out that calling out a president (or more specifically, this president) for dictatorial rhetoric isn’t just more leftist noise. A March 2016 piece in The Federalist titled, “No, Mr. Trump, Presidents Don’t Reign,” called out then-candidate Trump for improperly referring to George W. Bush’s term in office as a “reign.” I guess the communications people didn’t brief the president on terminology.
Depressing as it is that our nation’s leader responds to tragic shootings by lamenting his own delusions of persecution, I am ever amused by those are determined to see the tweet half-full:
All you need is one little S and suddenly “reign” becomes “resign.”
— Jessica Zellers (@bookouroboros) August 6, 2019
[Image via Mark Wilson, Getty Images.]
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
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