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Articles

Beyond Bullshit: Donald Trump’s Philosophy of Language

Chris Gavaler and Nathaniel Goldberg analyze Trump’s mode of communication.

In 2005 the philosopher Harry Frankfurt published a charming little book called On Bullshit. In it Frankfurt distinguishes bullshit from humbug and lies. Donald Trump, we submit, isn’t (usually) a humbugger or a liar. He’s a bullshitter. But he extends the qualities of bullshit beyond Frankfurt’s definition.

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