Every now and then I like to stray from my usual sources of wisdom — Shakespeare, Socrates, Confucius, and Eleanor Roosevelt, among others — and share with my readers some juicy tidbit from a living person. And what individual living today provides us with a more steady supply of quotable quotes than that font of all knowledge, the stable genius himself . . .

There are so many gems to choose from; his “Truth Social” posts alone provide the late-night comics with enough material for several lifetimes. But today I’ve chosen one from about a month ago that was so memorable it continues to haunt me to this day.

On July 3, 2026, at a celebration of America’s 250th birthday, Donald Trump addressed a group at Mt. Rushmore (where he would dearly love to see his head carved in stone next to those of Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln). For some reason, he chose to speak about the English language, with which he has a passing acquaintance, and its role as the language of America.

And what he said was this:

“In America, we speak English because that is the language of our founding and for a thousand years that has been the language of freedom.”

– Donald J. Trump, July 3, 2026

(Notice how I managed to sneak in a little Shakespeare after all. I can’t seem to help myself.)

But back to Trump.

In harking back 1,000 years, he certainly wasn’t talking about the America of 1026 A.D., as its native tribes were still some 581 years from being invaded by the first English-speaking settlers, who didn’t land at Jamestown until 1607. There was, of course, the earlier settlement at St. Augustine in 1565; but that was established by Spaniards, who spoke . . . yes, I know it’s obvious . . . Spanish. And the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus — though credited with having “discovered” America in 1492 — never touched the mainland, stopping instead at the Bahamas and Cuba.

Now, he might claim that he was referring to 1,000 years of the English language being spoken in jolly old England. But even that doesn’t compute, as the “Old English” of that time bore no resemblance to the English language as we know it today, but was in fact a Germanic language.

In short, I would suggest you give today’s quote the respect it deserves, and file it under “fantasy” rather than “fact” or “inspiration.” Or better yet, just trash it.

That’s where most of his utterances belong.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/6/26