Editor in chief, Black's Law Dictionary; author, Garner's Modern English Usage. Fall in love with language & it will love you back.
Jan 18, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
To the thinking American: we have before us a masterclass in #rhetoric, which of course is the art of saying the right thing at the right time. In coming days, I encourage you to listen closely and actively to commentators & politicians. Listen to what they say & how they say it.
Are you hearing smart ideas well expressed? Or are you hearing trite "talking points" that repeat banal ideas? You can take note of this most saliently when politicians take the floor for a limited number of minutes and seconds. Do they speak to any effect?
Jan 18, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
From a former Republican (me): Let's say you're a powerful Republican politician (Senator, perhaps). You know Joe Biden won the election, but you also know that 80% of Republicans have been successfully deluded to the contrary by crass demagoguery and propaganda. What do you do?
Do you (1) finally denounce the demagoguery and false propaganda--meanwhile discrediting the criminal demagogue, knowing that this may ruin your own short-term prospects; or (2) continue to ride the wave of your thoroughly deluded "base," knowing that the long term looks bleak?
Dec 1, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
That’s a funny story, Raffi. In 1984, I was among the first crop of law clerks to act as bailiff and “knock in” the judges. I was told that once they were robed, I was to give the door three hard knocks and open the door. Which I did.
But I was standing on the wrong side of the door—I’d gone through the door, into the courtroom, and used my whole forearm for three hard knocks. Then I opened the door.
