President Trump’s Bimodal Rhetoric

President Trump seems to have a bimodal way of talking to and about people in his public comments.

Either his comments are all about him.

Or they’re all about others.

Very little in between.

Many are the occasions when we hear President Trump make himself the center of his remarks. If he mentions other people, it is often to blast them for an actual or perceived slight or offense.

Yet when I hear many other remarks by President Trump, often remarks made when he is in the presence of other people, he makes those other people the center of his remarks. Especially people who do physical work and difficult tasks. People often characterized by the media as “ordinary."

This often does not come across in media descriptions or characterizations of Mr. Trump’s remarks. So I try to listen to his remarks directly.

I first noticed this sometimes extensive praise and encouragement of other people when I listened to one of his early “State of the Union” speeches after the extensive media coverage of how self-centered and hateful his words were.

Monday, I came across President Trump’s telephone call to the USA men’s hockey team after the team won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics. (I saw it via PowerLine Blog.) Although in some ways he is the center of the call (he is the President of the United States, so that may be hard to avoid), all of his words in his telephone call are about the hockey players and the games they just played. He says that he would be honored to meet them and to shake their hands. They are the stars in his remarks. It’s a fun conversation to listen to.

I find interesting President Trump’s facility to sound both like one of the world’s biggest narcissists, and like one of the world's biggest boosters of other people.