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Wiktionary has " Trumpian", Tumpesque", and "Trumpish" meaning:

Related or pertaining to Donald Trump

but there are few usage examples. Is there a more established term among those cited above or possibly a different one?

What is a "neutral" term that could be used for instance in e following sentence?

  • Protectionism will probably be part of (Trump.....) economic policies in the future.
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    Depending on your political leanings, it could be Trumpoid or Trumpy or Trumpical or Trumptastic. – TimR Nov 12 '16 at 15:38
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    I am looking for an adjective that is as neutral as possible. –  Nov 12 '16 at 15:47
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    Why spend time? ... the Trump administration's economic policies. – TimR Nov 12 '16 at 16:00
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    Did Barack Obama have an adjective? George Bush "witticisms" or spoken blunders were termed Bushisms, but Trump is Trump. Sometimes he's called "The Donald", the most neutral adjective for DT is his last name, Trump. Any coinage will always be interpreted in a negative light. – Mari-Lou A Nov 12 '16 at 18:47
  • @Mari-Lou A - Not necessarily so, and there are adjectives which probably refers to his style of life before politics. See also the link below the answer. –  Nov 12 '16 at 19:12
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    In the future we might see "Trumpism" to mean his policies in general, like "Thatcherism" and "Reaganism". – Paul Johnson Nov 12 '16 at 22:37
  • Can't it just be Trump-like? – SovereignSun Nov 14 '16 at 14:19

3 Answers3

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In the particular example, just use the possessive form:

Protectionism will be part of Trump's economic policies...

This solution will work in many situations. Where it won't work is when describing the wider administrative style and allies of Trump. For this Trumpian seems reasonable (and has been in use since the '80s). You may use Trumpite for a follower of Trump. Note that adjectives formed from proper nouns like this normally use a capital letter (Trumpian, not trumpian).

Examples:

James K
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Trump is a recent enough phenomenon that there is no "established" way to refer to him as an adjective. I'm sure, right now, the legions of journalists are straining their brains to come up with the best witticism.

Be aware that these suffixes can imply different things. For example -ian means "One from, belonging to, relating to, or like." while -esque means "In the style or manner of" or "resembling".. A "Trumpesque" policy would be something like what Trump would do, but not an actual Trump policy.

As a side note, you might be interested to know that Trump supporters have been referred to as "trumpers", "trumpets", and (more pejoratively) "trumpsters", among others.

The clever part is to play off of another word, so that your resulting word has two (or more) meanings. "Trumpet" is a good one, because it's already the name of a loud, braying musical instrument. "Trumpster" plays off of the word "dumpster" (another word for "rubbish bin").

In the same way, if you want to come up with a clever word that means "of or like or relating to Trump" you need to consider words that sound similar or which have similar structure. TRomano suggests things like "trumpical" ("topical"? "tropical"?) or "trumptastic" ("fantastic"), so you can see how the process works.

Andrew
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  • Would "trumpian" be a more 'neutral" term as explained here? http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2016/09/22/what_makes_the_adjective_trumpian_so_perfect_for_the_candidate.html –  Nov 12 '16 at 18:26
  • The article itself says "... thanks to a candidacy and campaign we can only call Trumpian, for the lack of a better—nay, any other—word." Weird, since there obviously are "other words". Although, Trumpian is neutral, since it doesn't play off of any negative words. – Andrew Nov 12 '16 at 18:37
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    This doesn't really answer the question, which explicitly asks for a neutral term. "Trumpster" and "Trumpet" are, as you noted, not neutral as they deliberately connote negative concepts. Interesting commentary, but not actually an answer. – Wildcard Nov 13 '16 at 08:34
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    @Wildcard the real answer is contained in the first line: "Trump is a recent enough phenomenon that there is no "established" way to refer to him as an adjective." Until Trump passes some regulations and clarifies what his policies will be, there can be no established adjective describing his term in office or his economy measures. – Mari-Lou A Nov 13 '16 at 12:40
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I've heard "Trumpian" used many times in neutral contexts. He's not a "recent enough phenomenon" though.

These things tend to solidify over time (Nixonian, Reaganite, Clintonian, Johnsonian, Washingtonian, etc.) I'd say the trend is leaning toward "Trumpian."

Guest123
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