Forget euphemism, Trump is using unabashed viciousness in his language against Iran

[babylonsister]

Forget euphemism, Trump is using unabashed viciousness in his language against Iran
Steven Poole
The Trump administration takes pleasure in deploying dysphemism to describe the killing of Iranians
Sat 4 Apr 2026 05.00 EDT

snip//

His favourite term is “lethality”; he loves telling the armed forces how “lethal” they are. “We are not defenders any more,” he announced gleefully. “We are warriors: trained to kill the enemy and break their will.” (It might seem excessive to break their will after killing them, but why settle for half measures?) He seemed to experience a sadistic pleasure in announcing the sinking of an Iranian warship by a US torpedo, enjoying the idea of the doomed crew’s “quiet death”.

This sort of unabashed viciousness is part of the appeal of the Maga administration for its fans, and might seem like a refreshing return to plain speaking. But you can, of course, speak plainly while lying. (“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity,” claimed George Orwell. Well, who is more insincere than Trump?) And Trump and Hegseth’s vivid wallowings in industrial ultraviolence are in reality no more honest than regular political dissembling.

After all, if your focus is on destruction as a virtue in itself, does it really matter what you blow up and who you kill? The goal, as Hegseth described it, is to “unleash” American “lethality”, not to “shackle” it, as though the US armed forces are a dangerous dog that deserves to roam free across the globe, pursuing its own savage instincts wherever it turns.

But while this maniacal, no-bullshit posturing, this chest-beating fiesta of blood and guts, takes centre stage, the real bullshit – of geopolitical miscalculation and cynical profiteering – seems to be simply swept under the carpet.

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/04/trump-using-dysphemism-language-against-iran