Since my column, “Let Me Fiddle, a Little, With Your Mind” was published, ‘I’ve gotta keep fiddling,’ keeps coming to mind, as I’m writing new columns. Like this one, here, about ‘narratives’… an interesting, popular word, meaning ‘stories.’
Narratives, often, are stories. It seems there’s always someone with a narrative, and, I suppose, I’m one of them.
Actually, going back several years, I’ve been writing stories — i.e. narratives — about authoritarians: dictators, despots, iron-fisted rulers, and other terms describing existing — and aspiring — authoritarians.
One of my recent narratives suggested a nickname for former President Donald Trump, with ‘despotic,’ in it, along with the word, ‘dyspeptic’. So the potential nickname — ‘despotic, dyspeptic Donald’ – might rival some of the president’s own widely-publicized nicknames, like one he came up with recently for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis:
“Ron DeSanctimonious.”
Am I, in any way, in the same league as Mr. Trump, with nicknames? I mean… with so many run-on letters, in ‘DeSanctimonious,’ alone – what’s the total, 13 or 14 letters — and another three letters with the Sunshine State governor’s Christian name, ‘Ron’… that’s a load of letters.
But, I’ve got alliteration, in my favor, with the ‘despotic, dyspeptic Donald’ nickname for the nation’s 45th POTUS. Try repeating, over-and-over, quick as you can… ‘despotic, dyspeptic Donald.’ That’s a real tongue-twister!
‘Ron DeSanctimonious,’ may be easier to pronounce, but repeating it, quickly… that’s something else, entirely. But hey, that’s just me. Why don’t you all, reading this column, weigh in on… why not call it, The Nickname Challenge?
Who’s the winner? The former president, and, for now, the leading GOP contender, in the 2024 presidential election, with his run-on, multi-letter DeSantis nickname?
Or me, with my alliterative Donald nickname?
‘Ron DeSanctimonious,’ or ‘despotic, dyspeptic Donald?’
If I were to win, would Mr. Trump allege voter fraud? And demand a recount? Maybe many, an almost endless number of recounts?
Would he mount legal challenges, maybe all the way up to the Supreme Court?
And if, after attempting to undermine, and even delegitimize my victory, would he go even further? By declaring Martial Law? Or, even as a former president, would he seek to suspend the Constitution?
And would his followers, and team of lawyers, somehow, justify such extreme measures? All because of nicknames?
Hearing, in the news, justifications and spin, regarding the former president’s host of legal issues, you’ve got to wonder, even with something as fictitious and facetious as a Nickname Challenge, how far something like this might go.
‘Despotic, dyspeptic Donald.’ Keep that nickname in mind, as you’re deciding how you’ll vote.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.