"People say we have the best relationship of any president-president, because he’s called president also. Now, some people might call him the king of China. But he’s called president.”"
Is it just me, or does that make absolutely no sense?
"Some people?" I'd like to meet those people. There has never been a king in China in the period A.D. right? Weren't the leaders of China since before the time of Christ always called "emperors"? So the term "King of China" is something that exists only in Trump's head.
To be fair, however, Trump's statement wouldn't make sense even if he got the title right.
Makes perfect sense to me. I don't know who the "people" are who say=id that, but what he is saying, even though he got the leader term incorrect, is that he and Xi have a good relationship as President to President. Trump said he thought Xi might well be called King which is a misnomer since China has never had a 'king', but the intent of the statement itself is fairly clear if you look past the bombastic attitudes that Trump uses when he speaks.
ReplyDeleteYou're missing the points. First of all "people say." Nobody has ever said anything remotely like that, and you know that because only a fool would make such a statement. It is preposterous to think that Trump and Xi have a better relationship than any other people with that title.
DeleteSecond, the use of the word BECAUSE. We have a good relationship BECAUSE he is called President. Total non-sequitur.
Third, "some people." As I said, I'd like to meet anyone who thinks China has a king. When Trump says "most people don't know" or "most people think," it means "I didn't know," or "I used to think." For example "nobody knew health care was so complicated" means "I didn't know health care was so complicated. (What else could it mean? Every single person in America knew that except Donald Trump.)
I take it that :
DeleteA-Scoopy is a fan of Trump in the sense that he likes laughing at him.
B- The Gent is a lost cause twisting anything coming from Trump to give it a sense that is acceptable in his view of the world.
C-Trump in a moron.
Yeah shit, once you get past the size of his family and the casual murders he uses to express himself, this Manson fella's just a regular guy.
DeleteOver-dramatic much, nature mom? It's cute how gullible you are.
DeleteMost people I speak to actually prefer Trump's craziness to the chicken little sky is falling act that you guys put on.
Roger that, Roger.
ReplyDeleteY'all have it wrong. I didn't say that what Trump said was right or made any actual sense in the term of what he said, I simply said I understood what he was trying to say.
ReplyDeleteLike the Greeks understood the Delphic Oracle.
ReplyDeleteSo that's where the bar is with this doofus -
ReplyDelete"He says things I can sort of decode"?
Splitting hairs.
ReplyDeleteThe rulers of China in the CE period were generally called "Huángdì", which we translate as "Emperor", but like most translations this is a bit of square pegging a round hole. The Chinese title always had more religious significance than is generally accorded to Emperors in the European tradition, since the Huángdì was also the head of the state religion (to the extent that Confucianism and Taoism can be called religions in the Western sense). The somewhat more analogous Japanese title of "Tennō", currently translated as "Emperor" was thought of as more like "Pope" by the first Portuguese traders with direct access to Japan in the Early Modern Period, with the Shogun thought of as like the Holy Roman Emperor, which was, at that time, also an Imperial title in name only.
The Chinese term "wáng" is generally translated as "King", and there were some "Kings" in China in the CE period, most notably during the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Again, the actual meaning depends on the historical context, sort of like all the various "Czars" that populate the US Federal Government not having a lot to do with the former Russian Monarchy.
None of this makes Trump's insane idiocy any more comprehensible, just imposing nerdery on you.
My knowledge of this is superficial and based on classes taken decades ago, but if I remember right, even those "kings" BC were never styled "King of China," since there was no unified China at the time.
DeleteWhile the actual Chinese terms are arbitrarily translated to king and emperor, they've always been translated that way, have they not? Is there any case where a reputable historian has referred to a modern-day "King of China" in English?
No. I don't think there is.
Delete