Braggadocio Trump 2019
Apparently, Trump’s sojourn alone in the deserted and lonely White House over the holidays with hundreds of employees and the best communications in the world led to no religious or soulful reflections. Probably just catching up on Fox News, and apparently Game of Thrones for “Sanctions are Coming”.
Also, apparently the visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future had no effect on Trump as Scrooge, but he undoubtedly made them feel put down in their respective roles. He probably called them “fake spirits”, and the “enemies of dreamland”. Trump actually scared the ghostiness out of them, by starving 750,000 government employees over Christmas, instead of just the sole Bob Cratchet, as Scrooge did. This was the meanest man they had ever met.
So, the first day of the New Year 2019 where the TV was not filled with New Year’s activities, we are treated to the greatest TV Braggadocio performance by any President, or any leader of modern times.
I can just see the dictionary writers shyly writing the definitions, afraid of offending anyone by the Braggadocio term, never imagining that someday, the most egotistical President ever, would present such a performance to the whole world on TV, that he would hit every thesauretical synonym.
Merriam-Webster defines braggadocio as: 1) a) empty boasting; b) arrogant pretension; COCKINESS; 2) BRAGGART.
Synonyms for Braggadocio in Merriam Webster are ancient, and so are many words in thesaurus.com, so I will separate out only ones that might be in use today. See which of these might apply to Trump: arrogance (exaggerated self-opinion), airs, aloofness, bluster, brass, chutzpah, conceit, contemptuousness, disdainfulness, egotism, gall, haughtiness, high-handedness, hubris, imperiousness, insolence, loftiness, nerve, ostentation, overbearance, pomposity, presumption, pretentiousness, pride, scornfulness, self-importance, self-love, smugness, superciliousness, swagger, and last, but not least, vanity.
Last year, we were only using the word “unbound” to describe Trump’s worst excesses. In 2019, that is now quite insufficient.
