Final Word from Tuesday, January 21, 2025
"America is back," announced the White House in all caps yesterday after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th U.S. president. Questions about Trump's first steps have now been answered in a barrage of executive orders, although interpretation of them will continue. Foreign Min. Jan Lipavský told Czech TV last night from the World Economic Forum in Davos that Trump is going to want Europe to buy American fossil fuels and weapons. Every Czech politician who is wearing a red Trump cap should realize this, Lipavský said. It was his way of adding a bit of the requisite disdain for Trump that keeps a Czech politician or opinion leader on the "right side of history," but Lipavský otherwise used the occasion of Trump's inauguration to promote higher defense spending, to call for restrictions on imports into Europe of Russian LNG and to warn against increasing trade ties with China. This is what Trump is going to want from Czechs, Lipavský said, and he showed a willingness to oblige. And why not, because it's merely a Trump-size version of what the Fiala government has been doing for Joe Biden for three years. [ Czech Republic United States WEF Switzerland oil ]
Glossary of difficult words
all caps - all capital letters;
barrage - an overwhelming number of questions, criticisms, complaints, etc., delivered simultaneously or in rapid succession;
requisite - made necessary by particular circumstances or regulations;
disdain - the feeling that someone or something is unworthy of one's consideration or respect;
to oblige - to do as (someone) asks or desires in order to help or please him or her.