Lesson on how to un-say something came too late for Papa John
Jul 16, 2018, 6:22 AM | Updated: 9:47 am
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
When President Trump called the European Union a “foe” over the weekend the outrage was immediate.
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“I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. But that doesn’t mean they’re bad. It doesn’t mean anything. It means they’re competitors.”
He’s defining “foe” as “competitor.”
Because he does not bow to the static definitions dictated by dictionaries. He tosses words into the air and reserves the right to redefine them as they fall.
In other cases, he simply says he was joking. As in the revelation over the weekend that the Russian military’s first attempt to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails in 2016 seemed to coincide with Trump’s famous quote “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails…”
That a foreign foe might actually have taken his advice has a treasonous aroma somewhat similar to genuflecting in a stadium. Except it turns out that right after his 2016 comment, Trump told a reporter he was only joking!
This, then, is an important lesson for all of us on how to un-say what you have clearly said.
It comes, alas, too late for Papa John, who decided to go the apology route and has now seen his name erased from his own company. But the rest of you — watch and learn.
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