White House press secretary Sean Spicer struggled to explain Trump's comments about a non-existent "military operation" in the effort to deport "unauthorized immigrants" from the United States. President Donald Trump, who has been ordered by a federal court to disclose the names of all immigrants who were banned from entering the country by his immigration ban, had stated earlier on Thursday that the deportation process was "a military operation." Trump provided few details about the operation, which only added to the speculation about what he meant.
Spicer's 'adjective' explanation
At a press conference on Thursday, Spicer was hounded with questions about the President's "military operation" and the rationale for using the military to remove immigrants from the country. Unfortunately for Spicer, his explanation created more questions than it answered.
Essentially, Spicer's labored explanation for Trump's comments was that Trump did not mean that an actual "military operation" was taking place, but that the President was using the word "military" as an adjective. Spicer further explained that Trump meant that the operation was "happening with precision," rather than that it was an actual "military operation." Spicer made every effort to convince reporters that Trump meant to say that the operation was a "military-style" event rather than an actual "military operation." Spicer made it clear that the military was not being used to deport immigrants.
However, his explanation for Trump's usage of the term "military operation" did not resonate with reporters and appeared awkward to many observers.
Dictionary definition of 'military'
According to the "New Oxford American Dictionary," the definition of the word "military" is as follows: "of, relating to, or characteristic of soldiers or armed forces." In the dictionary definition of the word "military," there is no reference to the word "military" as an adjective, nor is there an example of the usage of the word in adjective form.
When using the word "military" to refer to his deportation efforts, Trump did not specify that he was single-handedly changing the rules of grammar as noted in the dictionary. Whether or not there are upcoming executive orders pertaining to rules of syntax in the dictionary remains to be seen.
Trump fires top aide
Meanwhile, Trump fired a top aide for criticizing his policies on Latin America.
The aide, Craig Deare, was Trump's National Security Council Advsior for the Western Hemisphere. Trump fired Deare and then had him "escorted" out of the White House. It was not specified if the escort was a "military operation." Perhaps it is time to consult the dictionary again.