{"id":791,"date":"2026-07-06T10:43:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T10:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=791"},"modified":"2026-07-06T10:43:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T10:43:24","slug":"lets-fix-america-with-grammar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=791","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s fix America with grammar"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of my nieces recently messaged me about a sentence in a children\u2019s book. She sent a photo that showed a whimsical drawing of a pink dog above the line \u201cI wish my dog were pink.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more No, your drinking water isn\u2019t contaminated by abortion pills<\/a><\/p>\n

She asked if that should have been \u201cI wish my dog <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> pink.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I replied that the subjunctive mood in English is little understood and pretty much gone now \u2014 given that the language follows speech rather than writing \u2014 and noted, jokingly, that I wish more Americans <\/span>were<\/span><\/i> better educated.<\/span><\/p>\n

My quip naturally made me recall Donald Trump\u2019s 2015 campaign comment about how <\/span>he loves the poorly educated<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump loves the poorly educated because he can rely on them to not understand civics and to fall for his ceaseless lies and grifting. He is smugly confident that they will also look past his many, many deficiencies as a president and a human being. Did he not brag that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Trump knows he can blather about anything at all <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Trump knows he can blather about anything at all \u2014 that <\/span>he will bring prescription drug prices down by 1,500%<\/span>, that <\/span>his war with Iran<\/span> was an unbelievable victory, that the 2020 election was stolen from him with <\/span>fraudulent votes<\/span> \u2014 and not be considered by his loyal followers the utter fool the whole world considers him.<\/span><\/p>\n

The president has helpers, real or artificial intelligence-based, occasionally stepping in, but most of his rants on his social media site with the bulls**t name are rife with misspellings and grammatical errors. Of course, one can still pick up the low-level understanding of grammar and general inarticulateness from Trump\u2019s actual speech. The same goes for many of his underlings, like the <\/span>third-grade-level rantings of Pete Hegseth<\/span>, who is, incredibly, the secretary of defense of the United States. AI cannot fix any of that.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one should blame it on his rapidly aging brain; Trump has always struggled with the English language, even the New York version. He is cunning, not intelligent \u2014 something he unwittingly proves every time he claims that passing a basic mental competency test shows his brilliance. At 80, as he continues to age out, Trump is simply becoming a more concentrated version of himself, with ever-wilder dreams of grandeur.<\/span><\/p>\n

As reported in \u201c<\/span>Regime Change<\/span>,\u201d the new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Trump has latched on to the idea that he is the biggest man of history \u2014 greater than the likes of Alexander the Great, the most infamous Roman emperors, Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler.<\/span><\/p>\n

His gushing about being another Napoleon allows me to note that a couple of years ago I suggested the only way to handle Donald Trump was to <\/span>exile him to a nice island somewhere<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015, he infamously <\/span>claimed<\/span>, \u201cI\u2019m very highly educated. I know words. I have the best words.\u201d That was hilarious in a horrifying way \u2014 this was an <\/span>actual candidate<\/span><\/i> for the U.S. presidency \u2014 because he proved himself wrong, multiple times, within that very statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

More recently, the Man With The Best Words spun off a thousand memes by <\/span>saying<\/span> at a press conference, \u201cNothing bad can happen; it can only good happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting back to the <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>were<\/span><\/i> question, let\u2019s learn a bit more about the subjunctive mood before we, too, become more concentrated versions of ourselves and lose the ability to gather new information.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using the subjunctive verb correctly in all languages can be tricky, but journalists mostly put it to use in contrary-to-fact statements. The Associated Press Stylebook gives this advice, with examples: \u201cUse the subjunctive mood of a verb for contrary-to-fact conditions, and expressions of doubts, wishes or regrets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously, given that the subjunctive mood is used in contrary-to-fact statements, Trump and his pitiful <\/span>kakistocracy<\/span> are giving it a real workout.<\/span><\/p>\n