Great material this month! Additional COMMUNICATIONS BLUNDER from North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum trying to defend former President Trump, plus a former Trump staffer attacked by a member of the Biden family who falls into the trap of repeating back the sensational word. An example of apophasis (yes, we must look it up each time), a rare reverse BLUNDER– meaning we love the speaker and want to reverse engineer the comment from coach Ron Washington. Majorie Taylor Green (R-GA) made Republicans look stupid by her petty speech behavior, and former Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said, “to be honest,” and then wasn’t – providing a disturbing illustration of lying and then making it worse. Great use of props by Roaring Kitty and Nvidia CEO whose company also did a marvelous video documentary on its own prep for a major speech thereby turning the speech itself into a twofer as a communication vehicle.

THE WINNING COMMUNICATIONS BLUNDER

“I don’t think there’s any jealousy or hate or any of that,” said basketball star Angel Reese reacting to continuing speculation, even encouragement, about a blood feud between her and Caitlin Clark.

Both newcomers to the WNBA are off to a strong start and that has included a lot of physicality.  During a game, a Sky player bashed into Clark and Reese applauded. That moment was highlighted as proof of a bitter rivalry. Reese’s comment illustrates what we call “inverted speech,” that is, when the speaker articulates a positive and then the negative. Reese’s entire comment included, “I think we’re appreciative to be a part of this journey.” She also had a wonderful comment: “We’ve all been given these opportunities, and we don’t take them for granted. So I’m just happy to be a part of it and continue to help grow the game as much as I can.” Lesson? Quit while you’re ahead. Going forward, Reese can expect more micro focus looking for alleged savage behavior or critical complaints because the media – and fans? – are intrigued by conflict. But she’s proved herself to be a great communicator.

USA TODAY, “Angel Reese is not the villain she’s been made out to be,” June 5, 2024

THE RUNNERS-UP

“First, I can assure you the portions have not gotten smaller,” said Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol in response to Keith Lee, a well-known food critic’s extensive review that sparked a vigorous online debate where customers claimed to document smaller servings. This rates mentioning because we know a major global business understands messaging. Assuming that the company is being truthful, he started off well with a personal assurance but should have continued, “We take pride in our quality control and customer service, and I can personally assure our fans that portion sizes are the same, as well as delicious and filling. We welcome the opportunity to engage with our customers.”

BuzzFeed, “”The Rise And Fall Of Chipotle”: People Have Been Calling Out Chipotle For Their Small Portions And Lower Quality, And The CEO’s Response Is…Wild,” June 11, 2024

“No quid pro quo,’” said Governor Doug Burgum (R-ND) reacting to numerous stories about a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago where Trump allegedly told oil company executives that if they gave him one billion dollars, presumably in campaign contributions, he would lift regulations put in place by the Biden administration. Burgum vehemently denied any sort of ‘if/then’ deal. Given that he was there and described the meeting in detail, we think the media reports were wrongly slanted. However, note that the repetition of the negative became the headline, and the quote in all the coverage. He should have stuck with his other comments.

MSN, “‘No quid pro quo’ between Trump and oil execs at Mar-a-Lago, Gov. Burgum says,” June 2, 2024

“I am not a Nazi,” said Garrett Zieglar, former Trump staffer who was attending Hunter Biden’s trial on charges of lying on a form to purchase a gun. The comment responded to Hunter’s wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden, who confronted Zieglar and said, “You have no right to be here; you Nazi piece of s—.” It’s one more (unfortunate) example of how negative words get repeated. We have no advice to either of them except perhaps, “grow up.”

The Hill, “5 takeaways so far from Hunter Biden’s trial,” June 6, 2024

According to Wikipedia, the term apophasis is a rhetorical device wherein the speaker or writer brings up a subject by either denying it or denying that it should be brought up.  A close cousin of our classic BLUNDERS. One of our favorite readers, a professor always on the lookout for examples, sent us Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, “It’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel.” This statement then generated international controversy and forced the Biden administration to say they were not withholding anything and didn’t know what the Israeli PM was talking about. The communication result? Lots of discussion about what was being withheld and whether it was “inconceivable.” Thanks, professor!

The Times of Isarel, “Netanyahu protests ‘inconceivable’ arms halt; US: Don’t know what he’s talking about,” June 18, 2024

“I ain’t no damn failure,” said Ron Washington, manager of the LA Angels in a long interview probing why he would leave the position of third base coach for the Atlanta Braves. This is a rare, once-in-a-lifetime “anti-BLUNDER” award where I note the rest of his comment: “I’ve never been a failure in my damn life. I might be failing, but I ain’t no failure. There’s a difference.” There certainly is. As someone who had the privilege of working with Coach Wash during his departure from the Rangers, I endorse USA Today’s columnist Bob Nightengale’s summary, “The man is a winner,” and his explanation, “Although the Angels certainly are deficient in talent, they sure aren’t going to be outworked.” Coach Washington is the ultimate class act in my book. Note the “no damn failure” phrase made it into many of the online headlines.

USA TODAY, “Ron Washington won’t let losses deter belief in Angels: ‘Ain’t no damn failure’,” June 16, 2024

THE POWER OF NEGATIVE WORDS

“They are infiltrators.” An example of the power of a word as well as the admonition to always ask “who’s the audience?” shows up in the coverage of the elections in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been playing the religious version of what we call the race card by describing Muslims as ‘infiltrators,’ the equivalent of traitors. Commentors covering the elections described the word as a step up in ‘incendiary rhetoric.’ An interesting follow up, however, is that despite escalating the verbal warfare, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party lost a good chunk of its previous majority, illustrating that while words are important, there are plenty of other influences to pay attention to.

The Hill, “India delivers shocking election result: What to know,” June 4, 2024

Maybe this should be called non-use of a word. Self-promoter Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) made it a point to call Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, ‘Mr.’ and not ‘doctor.’ Oversight Subcommittee chair Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) properly chastised her. Whether you agree or disagree with Dr. Fauci’s policies or his communication, he is a doctor and should be addressed professionally and respectfully. This was just another publicity stunt, and we think it made her look petty. In other words, it detracted from the fact finding and policy discussion the committee was supposed to be having. Junk communication behavior crowds out good communication.

The Hill, “GOP chair reprimands Greene for refusing to call Fauci ‘doctor’,” June 3, 2024

WRONG THING TO SAY

“I left my family to be the coach at Texas A&M. I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again – and that hasn’t changed in my mind,” snapped Texas A&M baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle as his team potentially closed in on a World Series championship (they lost). Just to emphasize the point, he added, “I think it’s pretty selfish of you to ask me that question, to be honest with you.” Turned out, honest was what he wasn’t being. Within days, Schlossnagle announced that he was not only leaving Texas A&M, but he was also leaving for hated rival, the University of Texas. Media reported that he apologized to the reporter, but it was no real apology. His comment was that he “could have handled it better.” That wins the medal for a slap in the face and a big lie. When the reporter asked him the question about his future, all he had to say was, “I’m not thinking about that now. I’m focusing on letting my team know they are winners in my book.” The final comment: he’s illustrated the power of lying! What a role model for young athletes at both schools.

The Wall Street Journal, “The Baseball Coach Who Reignited College Football’s Most Toxic Rivalry,” June 26, 2024

PROPS

We recommend learning how to use props as an advanced element in effective speaking. A ‘prop’ is anything you pick up.  Keith Gill, a.k.a Roaring Kitty, the meme-stock influencer whose story inspired a movie, made the front page of the Wall Street Journal recently and the second paragraph noted that in his YouTube appearance, he donned sunglasses. He spoke from his signature red gaming chair. He poured a beer, cracked jokes and cheered on the Celtics. He even had a few good props including his Magic 8 Ball. As someone who has equipped speakers with the Magic 8 Ball, I can attest to their usefulness. The final sentence concluded, “The crowd loved it.” I bet they did!

The Wall Street Journal, “Keith Gill’s Riotous Return to YouTube Had Beer, Charts and a GameStop Pep Talk,” June 7, 2024

A pint-size adorable robot accompanied Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during his keynote speech at Computex 2024. This was the ultimate prop, and we are consumed by awe and envy. The company also did a long video/documentary about the prep for the speech, thereby getting a video of the speech and a very convincing communication vehicle emphasizing their creativity and ownership of knowledge. Worth seeing.

YouTube, “NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Keynote at COMPUTEX 2024,” June 2, 2024

“You Don’t Say” is a reminder not to repeat and deny a negative word because of how the listener hears words. When you repeat and deny a negative word, the listener is likely to overlook the denial and hear the opposite of what the speaker is trying to say.