The top Google News headline this morning is “Trump shoots down reports that his transition is in disarray” from “Politico” which has been strongly anti-Trump. This signals that Trump and his team are on top of media spin and attempts by media to define his presidency. Trump spoke out already to dispel this idea. He has quickly acted to squelch the notion that his organization is not proceeding the way he wants it to in finding suitable people for government posts.

The term “knife fight” has surfaced as a description of the competition for office. This is to be expected as power-hungry people vie for the spoils of office. Positions near the top enhance one’s record noticeably. One then has enhanced access to jobs and positions in the future in and out of government.

NBC News has the headline “Trump Transition Shake-Up Part of ‘Stalinesque Purge’ of Christie Loyalists”. I raised the question of “purge” two days back, without the adjective “Stalinesque”. “Stalinesque” is a negative term. Another report writes “Trump Family Mafia Executes “Stalin-esque Purge”. The source of this term is Mike Rogers (or people close to him). The sour grapes implied by the adjective “Stalinesque” are natural because Rogers has been purged.

The people being Stalinesque are those who are using this term to describe Trump’s purge. Stalinesque purge refers to phony show trials. These people and headline writers are making phony charges, putting Trump on trial and convicting him; but it’s 100% phony. Since the public has no consciousness of the transition except what they hear and read, the anti-Trump media are filling in the blanks with their negative spin. This is the power of the press.

Trump is simply vetting people who are applicants for positions. This is to assure that they are both suitable and trustworthy to carry out his policies and contribute constructively to his aims. The word “purge” is acceptable. It means to cleanse. Milk of magnesia purges the bowels. The word Stalinesque is not acceptable in this context.

The anti-Trump media are continuing their pre-election bias against Trump. That’s what’s been evident since the election. That’s really what’s going on. They are doing everything in their power to diminish Trump’s capacity to realize his agenda. They want to undermine his administration.

In the interest of truth, even if it be only a partial and incomplete discussion, I’d like to close with a popular instance of a supposed quotation that has been used against Trump.

Did Trump say the following: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Did Trump say “They’re rapists”? I have downloaded the video. I have played it back through the VLC player at slower speed. Several times. I have listened. I have looked at his mouth and lip-read. I have also paid attention to the context, the flow of ideas, his pause.

What I see and hear is that Trump actually said “They’re bringing crime, their rapists”. He actually said, “their rapists”, and it fits into the sentence grammatically as a “modifying phrase”. It modifies “They’re bringing crime”. It explains the type of crime being brought that he wished to emphasize. And the following words “and some, I assume, are good people” completes the modification.

This understanding of what Trump said is vastly different from saying “They’re rapists”.

I disagree with the thrust of his remarks, however, even if we correct the record somewhat. I disagree not only with the thrust of his remarks about Mexico but with the thrust of almost everything in that entire speech. I am not a Trump fan. I didn’t vote, period. In my 75 years, I recollect voting once, maybe even twice but surely no more, for president. And I did so partly because my wife had a job as a poll worker. It was around that time in the early 80s that we went to the Des Moines state fair and put in some time at the Libertarian booth. That was my first and last flirtation with parties and politics.

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