Last Saturday, Senator Mitch McConnell made a speech minutes after he joined 42 of his Republican colleagues to vote against convicting former President Donald Trump for "inciting an insurrection" in the impeachment trial. One sentence from the speech once again exposes McConnell's obfuscatory language: "There’s no question – none – that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day." "Provoking" is a synonym for "inciting", while "the events of the day" (that is, 6 January) is a euphemism that strips the "insurrection" or even the "riot" of its violence. – Close-reading McConnell is almost trivial, actually, but because of his political power, it's sadly necessary, again and again. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 17 February 2021)
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