Abstract
In this paper, we discuss an utterance/pragmeme/pract by Donald Trump addressed to FBI Director Comey: ‘I hope you will let Flynn go’ (The complete original utterance as reconstructed by Comey is ‘I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.” (Camp E, The hot potato of interpretative responsibility. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=33246, 2017)). We consider the explicature of this utterance (I hope you will drop the Russian investigation concerning Flynn) and its illocutionary and perlocutionary effects. We argue that while Republicans opt for an Austinian or Searlian analysis, in the attempt to deny that this utterance constitutes an attempt to influence Comey, there are reasons for adopting a Strawsonian analysis, casting it in the framework of pragmemes, worked out by (Mey JL, Pragmatics. Oxford, Wiley, 2001) to cast a socio-pragmatic analysis of utterance interpretation in context. According to this analysis, Trump illicitly tried to persuade Comey to drop the Russian investigation, interfering with the judiciary power. A case can be made for obstruction of justice.
The performance of any speech act involves at least the observance or exploitation of some linguistic conventions (Strawson 1964, 442).
It seems clear, that is, that there are many cases in which the illocutionary force of an utterance, though not exhausted by its meaning, is not owed to any conventions other than those which help to give it its meaning (Strawson 1964, 443–4).
Many thanks to Fabrizio Macagno, Theresa Catalano, Wayne Davis, and Richard Warner, for their interesting comments on my paper.
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Notes
- 1.
Although I was not very explicit about this, an utterance like ‘I hope you will let Flynn go’ has the following explicature: ‘I hope you will drop the Flynn investigation’ or ‘I hope you will fail to pursue the Flynn investigation’.
- 2.
Theresa Catalano writes in a p.c.:
“But nothing is impossible in this administration. Masha Gessen made a great point about Trump’s lying last night (and Putin’s) on The Daily Show. She said that everyone knows he is lying but he lies to show there is nothing you can do about it and exert his power. She compared it to a bully that steals your lunch. When you say “Hey, you took my lunch”, he holds it up and says “What lunch? I didn’t take your lunch”. That is, he knows you can do nothing about it and is demonstrating his power. This is similar in that you say it is impossible to deny but they did and they will continue to unless someone is able to convince a judge there is no other explanation”.
Start at 13.53 to see Masha Gessen’s interview. http://www.cc.com/episodes/ia88c6/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-extended%2D%2D-july-27%2D%2D2017%2D%2D-masha-gessen-season-22-ep-22137
- 3.
“In his meeting with Priebus, Comey told him about a policy at the Justice Department that prohibits talks between the White House and the FBI about ongoing investigations in order to prevent any political meddling in the bureau’s work, according to the Times’ story. It is not clear whether Mr. Priebus ever delivered that message to Trump, the newspaper reported.” http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/12/politics/mueller-trump-white-house-officials/index.html
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Capone, A., Bucca, A. (2019). “I Hope You Will Let Flynn Go”: Trump, Comey, Pragmemes and Socio-pragmatics (A Strawsonian Analysis). In: Capone, A., Carapezza, M., Lo Piparo, F. (eds) Further Advances in Pragmatics and Philosophy: Part 2 Theories and Applications. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 20. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00973-1_31
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