To the Editor:
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term “bully pulpit” was coined by President Teddy Roosevelt who observed that the White House was a “bully pulpit” that he could use to promulgate his policies to the American people.
For Roosevelt, the word “bully” was an adjective meaning “excellent or first-rate” and not the noun bully (a blustering, brow-beating person) that is so common today. After watching Donald Trump’s speech to the nation on Tuesday evening, it is apparent that he has no concept of the difference between an adjective and a noun. By no stretch of the imagination was his regurgitation of his oft-repeated lies, half-truths, exaggerations and hyperbole anything close to “excellent or first-rate”; but he continues to represent the epitome of the blustering, brow-beating schoolyard bully who continues to demand your lunch money. And as for the reference to the word “pulpit,” in terms of its religious overtones alone and despite the continuing and unquestioning slavering heaped upon their Golden Calf by so-called Christians and Evangelicals, the use of the term “pulpit” in the context of The Donald is sacrilegious beyond all bounds. This man is no more Christian, in the true sense, than is the mythical man in the moon.
Daniel J. Andrews
Village of Winifred
