earlier this week, chicago tribune columnist eric zorn offered this analysis of popular opinion on billionaire and presidential candidate donald trump
u may think real estate mogul and former reality tv star donald trump is a buffoon, a racist clown, a charlatan or just a dope — a cartoon ugly american come to life whose campaign for president is an exercise in vanity aimed at boosting his long-term business interests.
vanity is similar to narcissism or self-delusion. it is a word that is frequently used in reference to donald trump. aimed at indicates an objective.
vanity smurf spends a lot of time looking at himself in the mirror
zorn’s conclusion on trump’s chances of being the republican candidate for president in 2016…
i doubt he’ll end up as the nominee. many gop voters who are initially jazzed by his controversial, cocksure pronouncements will likely come to see them as a liability in the general election.
but he also believes trump
will be in the top tier of republican presidential hopefuls in at least the early [phases of the process].
end up is used to mark the completion of a series of events. gop is a nickname for the republican party. it stands for grand old party. jazzed means excited. cocksure is a synonym for confident. liability is a disadvantage. tier is a group.
the gop is often symbolized by an elephant
though a majority of mexicans are probably not totally sure who donald trump is, most of the publicity his campaign has received has been over comments he made about mexico when he announced his candidacy.
jake miller of cbs news reports
at his campaign kickoff last month, trump warned of a lack of security along the u.s.-mexico border, complaining that the u.s. has become a “dumping ground” for the world’s problems.
kickoff is the opening play of a football game. in this context, it’s the same as launch; the official beginning of trump’s campaign. lack means without. dump means unload or get rid of.
the cartoon shows the u.s. using mexico as a dumping ground for automatic weapons (nick anderson)
these were trump’s controversial, widely reported comments
when mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. they’re sending people that have lots of problems…they’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. they’re rapists. and some, I assume, are good people.
trump also claimed he would build a great wall between mexico and the u.s.and make mexico pay for it.
fun elt practice 
richyrocks english on youtube
polls (surveys) that currently have trump as the second most popular republican candidate appear to validate trump’s
straight talk [that] other candidates are too cowardly to offer
straight talk is honest. cowardly means afraid.
but the donald’s anti-immigrant message is at odds (creating conflict) with his financial activities.
television networks nbc universal, televisa, univision and carlos slim‘s ora as well as macy’s department stores have all terminated their business with trump. nevertheless, tara john reports on time.com that he remains
unwilling to back down from his remarks
willing means inclined to. back down is an admission of error or submission. it is stronger than walk back.
hippo fight: which hippo will back down first?
his reaction to macy’s was something like
you’re not dumping me, i’m dumping u
and tom huddleston jr. informs on fortune.com that trump is
suing univision for more than $500 million
and has
also threatened legal action against nbc
sue is taking legal action. threaten gives the idea of intimidation.
in addition to lost business, several celebrities have cancelled events that are connected to trump. song and dance man ricky martin cancelled an event at a donald trump owned golf course, and nina terrero‘s piece on time.com chronicles all of the celebrities who have declined to appear at the miss usa pageant (also partially owned by mr. trump); most notably hip hop star flo rida and nfl hall of famer emmit smith.
in fact terrero’s article is a lesson in how to say no after u have already said yes. she uses four different phrasal verbs– back out, pull out, bow out and drop out in addition to withdraw to describe this action.
are u familiar with donald trump? what do u think about the comments he made about mexico? could he be an effective president with so many people not wanting to work with him? share your observations under leave a reply
