Words and Phrases We Can Do Without

It’s not ‘grift’; it’s out-and-out sleaze

Donald Trump, like all autocrats, has twisted and distorted language to such a degree that, as we have noted week after week, some words have lost all meaning or now signify the opposite of their real meaning. Trump’s dishonesty, greed, and brazenness have also dwarfed certain terms and, hence, served to minimize the extent of his malfeasance.

“Conflict of interest,” “grift,” and “foreign emoluments” are all technically correct descriptions of Trump’s pattern of profiteering and solicitation of… um… “gifts” from foreign powers. But those terms do not begin to capture the disgusting excess, the piggish greed, and the vile corruption at the heart of so much of what he does.

Grift suggests small, petty theft. There is nothing small about the scope of Trump’s self-enrichment. Conflict of interest can denote a paperwork failure that can be cured by disclosure, or at worst, some personal interest that makes an otherwise legitimate activity suspect. In Trump’s case, he is the only one benefiting in multiple schemes. And foreign emoluments is, frankly, not in the vocabulary of most Americans. Nope, Trump’s monstrous gorging at the trough is more obscene than these terms suggest.

Consider what has transpired in just the last week or so:

• The Defense Department took possession of a $400M Qatari plane, whose delivery to Trump has disgusted even Republicans.

• Two hundred investors, including many foreigners who collectively enriched Trump to the tune of $148M, won a dinner invite, the express purpose of which for many was to curry favors. (That is what the guests said.)

• Trump’s family continued doing business deals in Vietnam and the Middle East during his time in the Oval Office.

As Isaac Chotiner wrote for the New Yorker, Trump “is one of many right-wing ‘populist’ leaders and former leaders—Viktor Orbán, of Hungary; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, of Turkey; Narendra Modi, of India; Jair Bolsonaro, the former President of Brazil—who have won election by running against a supposedly corrupt system, and then become embroiled in corruption scandals that often vastly eclipse those of their predecessors.”

Trump carries out a classic “smash and grab” operation. He destroys the operation of government, the ideals of the Justice Department, and the rule of law; he grabs whatever riches he can scoop up during his remaining time in office. And he muzzles the witnesses and the guardians of the public trust through denial, intimidation, and politicized prosecutions.

“The scale and the scope of the presidential mercantilism has been breathtaking,” reports Peter Baker. “The Trump family and its business partners have collected $320 million in fees from a new cryptocurrency, brokered overseas real estate deals worth billions of dollars and are opening an exclusive club in Washington called the Executive Branch charging $500,000 apiece to join, all in the past few months alone.” As for the plane (that Trump will take with him when he leaves office): “Experts have valued the plane, formally donated to the Air Force, at $200 million, more than all of the foreign gifts bestowed on all previous American presidents combined.”

Trump is conducting all of this deal-making at a time when he is also suppressing or entirely shutting down the prosecution of foreign corruption, fraudulent crypto schemes, and all manner of white collar crime.

So, let’s use language commensurate with Trump’s offenses, i.e., sleazy, corrupt, and kleptocratic. “Grift” or “conflicts of interest” simply don’t encapsulate the magnitude of the corruption Trump is normalizing.

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Travel Update

Since I last reported on my travels, we spent several days in Bilbao and arrived in London. If art, architecture, or urban renewal thrill you, the Bilbao Guggenheim must become an entry on your bucket list. Having attended concerts many times in Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Hall, a building that also employs titanium in sweeping curves, I did not expect a structure so mammoth, so enveloping, so awe-inspiring. Take 45 minutes or so to walk around the exterior. Every angle reveals something new. The building changes radically from one vantage point to another. It sweeps up the adjacent bridge, spills into outdoor sculpture and lighting effects, and changes color depending on the light. When you see “before” pictures of the polluted and abandoned docks in the 1980s, Gehry’s creation becomes all the more astonishing.

The interior of the building resembles a cathedral with a soaring ceiling and cross beams of steel and light pouring in all directions. With marble the color of sandstone, the ambiance is soothing, not cold.

The enormity of the structure allows for the display of a series of Richard Serra’s massive, walk-through sculptures—as well as huge works from artists such as Nigerian sculptor El Antasui and Claes Oldenburg (Soft Shuttlecock). The permanent collection is top rate (including works by Rothko, Lichtenstein, and Koons), but the temporary exhibits it attracts are out of this world. We were fortunate to see an outstanding exhibit of Helen Frankenthaler’s (and a few of her colleagues’) abstract expressionist works; and of Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral, who introduced modernism to her country. A comprehensive collection of art on paper from 1400 to the present from the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, was exquisite. Labeling throughout was informative and accessible.

The entire experience is a feast for the eyes and a balm for the soul. If you have time or inclination, the café is delightful for lunch, and the dinner restaurant (with advance reservations) lives up to its one-star Michelin rating (the pumpkin mousse with beer ice cream may have been the best single food item of the entire trip, which is saying something).

We also took a tour out to San Sebastian, the fishing village of Getaria (for a fish lunch plucked from the Mediterranean just hours earlier), and the eye-popping Flysch, a geological wonder created when Spain slammed into Europe tens of millions of years ago. The scenery was simply spectacular, and the Basque guide provided a wealth of information about the area and insight into these defiantly independent people. It made for one of the best side trips of the entire vacation.

We arrived in London in time for a gorgeous Mozart Requiem at St. Martin-in-the-Fields church. The church is smaller than one would imagine, and the voices fill the space, making for a truly spiritual experience. Our favorite Indian restaurant for dinner was every bit as delicious as we remembered.

After a magnificent exhibit of Edvard Munch portraits on Sunday, we attended a soccer game on the final day of the season. The match between Tottenham (coincidentally returning from a Europa championship win in Bilbao) and Brighton in Tottenham’s gorgeous new stadium was a thrill for this English soccer fan. The chants, songs, and flag-waving did not diminish despite the score (Tottenham lost 4-1).

A few more days in London still to enjoy!