BRATTLEBORO — Covfefe. I would be happy to never read or hear the pseudo-word again. Donald Trump's late-night tweet once again sent the media, pundits, comedians, and the general public scrambling to make sense of nonsense. Is Trump senile? Erratic? Is there a special meaning to be gleaned from his use of the nonexistent word?
The truth is more likely that Trump knows exactly what he is doing and timed the release of the linguistic furor to coincide with the announcement that he would be withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement.
Knowing full well that removing our country from perhaps the last hope for human and planetary survival might not go over well, Trump first delayed his announcement, then rolled it out under the foil of, yes, covfefe.
Trump is a two-trick pony. He has timed every major policy announcement to coincide with a completely off-topic sensational communication from the White House. He has studied the manipulative tactics of dictators for years, and he is putting these tactics to use in our own democratic nation.
Trump's vulnerability is his smug assumption that he can get away with anything. Let's hope that the checks and balances built into our democratic process hold him and his cronies accountable, before their cataclysmic policy decisions are implemented.