trumpery

plural trumperies

1. countableuncountableWorthless finery; bric-a-brac or junk.

   PROSPERO.^([To Ariel]) / This was well done, my bird. / Thy shape invisible retain thou still: / The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither / For stale to catch these thieves.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

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   I have ſold all my Tromperie: not a counterfeit Stone, not a Ribbon, Glaſſe, Pomander, Browch, Table-booke, Ballad, Knife, Tape, Gloue, Shooe-tye, Bracelet, Horne-Ring, to keepe my Pack from faſting: […]

   c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 296, columns 1–2

2. countableuncountableNonsense.

   Now upon the coming of Chriſt, very much, tho' not all, of this idolatrous Trumpery and Superſtition was driven out of the World: […]

   1698, Robert South, “The Lineal Descent of Jesus of Nazareth from David by his Blessed Mother the Virgin Mary. Proved in a Discourse on Rev. xxii. 16.”, in Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions, volume III, London: […] Tho[mas] Warren for Thomas Bennet […], →OCLC

3. countableobsoleteuncountableDeceit; fraud.

   In that case there is no need for me to write about the trumpery scandal by which I was the sufferer—the innocent sufferer, I positively assert.

   1859 November 26 – 1860 August 25, [William] Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1860, →OCLC

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   1640, Richard Greenwey, The Annales of Cornelius Tacitus. The Description of Germanie, publ. by Richard Whitaker, 182. Agrippina after this, more mad and wilfull then ever, gave out threatning and thundring ſpeeches: yet not forbearing the Princes eares, but crying, that Britannicus was now growen to mans eſtate : a true and worthy plant to receive his fathers Empire, which a grafted ſon by adoption now poſſeſſed by the injury and trumpery of his mother.

1. not comparableGaudy but worthless.

   “Of all the trumpery moonshine!” Mr Wilkins exploded. “What do you think you're playing at, Jennings!”

   1954, Anthony Buckeridge, According to Jennings, London: William Collins, Sons, OCLC 255905255; republished London: Stratus Books, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7551-0165-8, page 136

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   He earnestly exhorted them all to be earnest in their studies, and to think nothing beneath them. Let them not pass over any cases as unimportant; for they must remember that some of the greatest principles of the law had been enunciated out of the most apparently trumpery cases that had come before the judges.

   1872 February 3, A. R. Adams, “The Birmingham Law Students' Society”, in The Law Times: The Journal and Record of the Law and the Lawyers, volume LII, London: Published at the Office of the Law Times, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C., →OCLC, pages 259–260

   I also remember the old Royal Mews that stood on the site of the present trumpery National Gallery, with its too suggestive pepper-boxes; […]

   1887, Charles Mackay, Through the Long Day: Or, Memorials of a Literary Life, page 113

1. derogatoryuncountableusuallyThe beliefs and practices of US president Donald Trump.

   In American alone, after 18 months of trumpery, the editors of Merriam-Webster are still playing catch-up. If new terms aren't being hatched, like narcissocracy or pluto-populism, then recent inventions (infoganda, feardom, Spinnish) are fast gaining traction.

   2018 August 28, David Astle, “Wordplay: OK cracy-ness rules, OK?”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, NSW: Nine Entertainment, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 31 Aug 2018

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   "Trump: The Art of the Deal" (fresh drumroll, please) is more forthcoming about the first wing of the Trump attack than it is about the second. The reason goes to the dark heart of Trumpery: the book is itself a craftily designed piece of public relations. That a businessman should thus use himself as a sales gimmick is hardly a crime against literature. But "The Art of the Deal" does deserve at least a warning label.

   1988 February 1, Louis Menand, “The Triumph of Trumpery”, in The New Republic, New York, N.Y.: Republic Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Jun 2023

   So American people are going to be called on. I think they'll repudiate Trumpery. That's why I think Trump has to be front and center. I'm not in agreement with the people who say, "No, never talk about Trump." He needs to be discussed. Trumpery, not Trump, Trumpery needs to be a part of every conversation. The 2024 election is going to be a referendum on both Trump and Trumpery, because if he's alive, he's running.

   2022 May 25, Dahlia Lithwick, quoting Norm Eisen, “The Four Boxes to Defeat Trumpery”, in Slate, New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Oct 2022

   Trumpery is like a virus in a zombie movie, infecting the unlikeliest think-tankers, politicians, and columnists. People you have down as solid Reaganites will suddenly, like the ravening monsters in those films, start telling you that tariffs are a terrific negotiating tool or that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is more dangerous than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

   2024 February 8, Dan Hannan, “When the Republicans get back to normal, Trump and Trumpery will pass”, in Washington Examiner, Washington, D.C.: MediaDC, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Mar 2024