The Prince of Peace?

Many of my readers are current or past English teachers, English majors in college, and generally well-read individuals. For that reason, I feel pretty comfortable that you are familiar with Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and the genre of dystopian novels in general.  Knowledge of these novels may equip us well for the Trumpocalypse that awaits us.

I was particularly struck by the Christmas message released by soon-to-be-White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus and his RNC Co-Chair Sharon Day.  (By the way, what ever happened to "i" before “e” except after “c” or when sounded as “a” as in neighbor or weigh?) The first paragraph reads:

“Merry Christmas to all! Over two millennia ago, a new hope was born into the world, a Savior who would offer the promise of salvation to all mankind. Just as the three wise men did on that night, this Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King. We hope Americans celebrating Christmas today will enjoy a day of festivities and a renewed closeness with family and friends.”

I think it’s very hard to misinterpret who they mean by “a new King.”  The twitterverse lit up with disbelief over this tweet, and I, myself, said several times out loud, “No, they didn’t say that. What were they thinking?”  I didn’t have to wonder for long, because soon-to-be-White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, rode up on his camel to clarify the message for those of us foolish enough to be picturing a crown on the orange man, saying: the reference didn’t have anything to do with Trump and “Christ is the King in the Christian faith.” Spicer later said that it was “sad and disappointing you are politicizing such a holy day.” (www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/26/rnc) Who actually did the politicizing?

Words matter, and most of us, for good or for ill, interpret words in the conventional sense, not as part of some Orwellian doublespeak.  For my part, I suspect that Reince has secretly printed new business cards, “Prince Priebus,” because, you know, alliteration. I’m sure Mr. Spicer stands ready to interpret this for us.

Michael Andor Brodeur had a new interpretation in today’s “Thing Tank” column in the Boston Globe:  He thought that possibly “‘good news of a new King’ could have just been voice recognition screwing up “good news of a nuking.” No question but what Mr. Spicer will be busy in the New Year creating new meanings for tweets we thought we understood.