Watch those ego trips

Quite recently comedian Seth Meyers noted that Donald Trump feels the constant need to use superlatives. It could be argued that hyperbole can be a casual form of expression. That’s the case when you say Jack, you’re the best or I’m starving. It can also be held that exaggerations are a powerful literary device. In the opening line of “A Tale of Two Cities” Charles Dickens himself wrote: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
However, as Meyers pointed out, using an extreme statement can also make a person sound utterly ridiculous. In answer to a reporter who had asked him if he is a racist, President Trump responded: “I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed”. To which Seth Meyers said the following:

Why do you do that to yourself, man? If you just said “I’m not a racist” maybe you can muddy the waters and people will have to debate it but when you say “the least racist person” you just set off alarm bells. It’s the difference between saying “I’m a tall person” and “I’m the tallest person on Earth”. With one you go “Oh! pretty tall, I guess” with the other you go “Oh! He’s crazy!”

If you are interested you can see the comments in this clip (03:23).

And I believe Meyers is right. Exaggeration is usually dangerous and, more often than not, it is simply false. Also let’s not forget that, when it comes to race-related remarks, a sweeping statement is definitely a no-no. It is racial profiling at best and plain racism at worst. So please let’s all try and avoid gross generalizations and make an effort to find more reasonable alternatives. We know that hyperboles are not to be taken literally. Yet, as the clip below shows, abusing exaggerated statements can be just laughable.

I know it is quite easy to edit together a series of out-of-context soundbites and make someone look silly but, still, the question remains: what kind of person refers to himself/herself in such extreme terms so often? One is tempted to assume that such a speaker might not only be irritatingly arrogant but also not very smart. I may be wrong but, the way I see it, it seems like Mr. Trump does not have many rhetoric resources for blowing his own trumpet. That’s probably one of the reasons why he keeps using the same structure Nobody is… than me. So let’s be better than Trump and, even when you are on an ego trip, please try phrases like these: I believe this is my forte, I know quite a bit about that, I have a deep respect for women, I’m an avid student of the Bible, I’m a staunch supporter of the anti-nuclear lobby, I am a fairly educated woman and so on and so forth...

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