Scandal titles
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There's some discussion on twitter of what we should call the current American political scandal:
Gates are over. Let's return to the classics. The best name for a scandal built on insane conspiracy theories is Crackpot Dome.
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) October 4, 2019
Other anti-Trump contenders besides #CrackpotDome that have reached the hashtag level include #MoronContra, #QuidProPotus, #ClusterTrump, and #UkraineClownPosse. Sub-hashtag suggestions include GrifterGate, Crime-a-Lago, Ukraine in the Membrane, and The Doofus Affair, among many others.
These are mostly historical and cultural wordplay, which will amuse people who know the historical an cultural allusions but won't work so well with those who are less well informed, or just younger.
I haven't seen any pro-Trump hashtags relating to this scandal yet, which surprises me given Trump's fondness for evocative nicknames — but no doubt some readers will be able to fill in the blanks.
Keith said,
October 5, 2019 @ 7:20 am
I thought that the general pattern since Watergate was "Xgate" where X represents something to do with the scandal in question.
So there have been Bridgegate, Weinergate and Pussygate recently.
If we're discussing Trump wanting investigations into the Biden family, I propose "Investigate".
Thaomas said,
October 5, 2019 @ 7:35 am
"900 million quid pro quo"? [exaggerated, but no one knows what the quid/dollar exchange rate is.]
Philip Taylor said,
October 5, 2019 @ 7:41 am
Google seems to know : throw "xe.net dollar quid" at Google and it will return "Convert USD/GBP. United States Dollar to United [Kingdom Pound/Quid] – XE"
David Marjanović said,
October 5, 2019 @ 9:49 am
Crackpot Dome is good, but at Moron-Contra I risked choking on my own spittle.
But of course this is all just a small part of Stupid Watergate.
Robert Coren said,
October 5, 2019 @ 10:48 am
Is the "moron" in "Moron-Contra" accented on the second syllable (cf. "Iran")?
Victor Manfredi said,
October 5, 2019 @ 12:02 pm
monica zelensky
en.md4.ru/news/10898/the-battle-over-trump-s-ukraine-transcript
Ernie in Berkeley said,
October 5, 2019 @ 12:15 pm
"Stupid Watergate", or "like Watergate, but stupid", is gaining traction.
Ethan said,
October 5, 2019 @ 12:18 pm
Now that the senior Republican member of the Senate has broken with Trump over the issue of whistle-blowers, I expect it to be described as a "coup de Grassley".
Jerry Friedman said,
October 5, 2019 @ 12:54 pm
I don't think anything can equal "InvestiGate", but it's hard to search for.
R. Fenwick said,
October 5, 2019 @ 1:19 pm
"Crackpot Dome" makes me think of the second Mad Max film, subtitled Beyond Thunderdome. In that vein, is this Beyond Blunderdome?
Dr. Emilio Lizardo said,
October 5, 2019 @ 4:19 pm
"coupe de faux", also works. But that would necessitate including related actions taken since 9 November 2016.
Keith Ivey said,
October 5, 2019 @ 11:44 pm
I've seen suggestions on Twitter that we should finally retire the "-gate" suffix for scandals and start using "-a-Lago" instead.
Charlotte Stinson said,
October 6, 2019 @ 6:30 am
Just “TrumpGate.”
Theophylact said,
October 6, 2019 @ 9:26 am
I prefer "Kievan Ruse", but I'd also suggest "InstiGate of Kiev".
Dave said,
October 6, 2019 @ 11:56 am
#Congenial might work as a pro-Trump hashtag, except for the drawback that it also works in the other direction with a slight change of capitalization: #ConGenial.
Lorxus said,
October 6, 2019 @ 12:29 pm
I myself favor Ukraine Clown Posse.
xpaul said,
October 6, 2019 @ 12:34 pm
how about “Insta-gate”
Jerry Friedman said,
October 6, 2019 @ 12:39 pm
Theophylact: "The Great Gate of Kyiv" is also tempting.
Adam F said,
October 7, 2019 @ 3:37 am
I think Jerry's suggestion is the best, & I learned about the spelling change.
It's worth noting that "-gate" was deliberately proliferated by William Safire (who worked for Nixon) to dilute the perceived guilt from Watergate.
BZ said,
October 7, 2019 @ 1:27 pm
What's the significance of -dome?
Mary Kuhner said,
October 7, 2019 @ 5:02 pm
Teapot Dome was a scandal during the Harding administration: Harding's Secretary of the Interior was convicted of accepting bribes from oil companies to sell the Teapot Dome oilfield (and others) to them at bargain prices. Says Wikipedia: "Congress subsequently passed legislation, enduring to this day, giving subpoena power to House and Senate for review of tax records of any US citizen without regard to elected or appointed position, nor subject to White House interference." So it's quite a relevant scandal.
I drew a cartoon, based on a 1920's original, showing Teapot Dome turning into an elephant–back in high school, but apparently drawing a cartoon is a superb way to memorize something, because I still remember it.
Charlotte Taylor said,
October 8, 2019 @ 9:03 am
re -dome: 20 years ago we had Operation Plunderdome here in Providence, RI (city government corruption; mayor went to jail).
Rodger C said,
October 10, 2019 @ 6:53 am
@Mary Kuhner: My high-school American history textbook (1963-64) was richly illustrated with contemporary political cartoons. It was a great idea. I wonder what they do nowadays?
Ray said,
October 10, 2019 @ 7:11 pm
all of this has me wondering where the "nothing burger" trope comes from. I mean, why "burger"?