General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's Weird Capitalization Habits Explained
Donald Trump doesn't follow rules. He hates rules, unless he is making them. In his Truth Social and other Internet posts, you have probably noticed that he capitalizes words in a distinctly non-English way. Why?
He's, you know, German, see. In German, all nouns are capitalized. It's a hard and fast rule. Trump likes the idea, so he sort of copies the German pattern. Like everything else he does, of course, he doesn't know why he does that, exactly. So, he also capitalizes some other words, almost at random. It's a little confusing. Just like Trump's brain. Confusing.
So, Trump's trying to be more like the Germans. He has a lot of respect for historical Germans. Especially German leaders from the 1930s and 40s. Strong men, he thinks they were. He wants to be a strong man. So he copies what those old dead Germans did. Capitalizing nouns is strong, you see. Very strong. Just like Trump thinks he is.
Old Crank
(6,432 posts)The first letter of the word. Haus, not HAUS.
MineralMan
(150,344 posts)he uses initial caps more often. Here's an example, in his Truth Social post about MTG:
"I am withdrawing my support and Endorsement of "Congresswoman" Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the Great State of Georgia. Over the past few weeks, despite my creating Record Achievements for our Country including, a Total and Complete Victory on the Shutdown, Closed Borders, Low Taxes, No Men in Women's Sports or Transgender for Everyone, ending DEl, stopping Biden's Record Setting Inflation, Biggest Regulation Cuts in History, stopping EIGHT WARS, rebuilding our Military, being RESPECTED by every Country in the World (as opposed to being the laughingstock that we were just 12 months ago!), having Trillions of Dollars (Record Setting!) INVESTED in the U.S.A., and having created the "HOTTEST" Country anywhere in the World from being a DEAD Country just 12 months ago (and so much more!), all I see "Wacky" Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN! It seemed to all begin when I sent her a Poll stating that she should not run for Senator, or Governor, she was at 12%, and didn't have a chance (unless, of course, she had my Endorsement which she wasn't about to get!). She has told many people that she is upset that I don't return her phone calls anymore, but with 219 Congressmen/women, 53 U.S. Senators, 24 Cabinet Members, almost 200 Countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can't take a ranting Lunatic's call every day. I understand that wonderful, Conservative people are thinking about primarying Marjorie in her District of Georgia, that they too are fed up with her and her antics and, if the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support. She has gone Far Left, even doing The View, with their Low IQ Republican hating Anchors. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT
AGAIN!"
He does a little ALL CAPs for emphasis, in that, but he mostly capitalizes nouns and some adjectives he wants to emphasize. He does all of it sporadically, and with very little consistency. He doesn't really know the rules, so he makes them up as he goes.
Old Crank
(6,432 posts)Assuming he knows or cares.
You don't capitalize adjectives. Just nouns.
English. German cars.
German. german Cars. deutschen Autos.
I don't think he even has a clue.
MineralMan
(150,344 posts)He doesn't understand English capitalization, either. He just does as he pleases, "fuck the world...."
John1956PA
(4,626 posts)If I think about it, I can hear the inflection in my mind before I speak it. When I vocalize my thoughts, I convert my speech pattern to a Western European sound.
For the most part, my default inflection does not foster emphasis on words in a sentence. I avoid typing in caps partly because it is not a natural voice inflection for me.
I am not sure why Trump has a penchant for typing in upper case. Maybe it is just a matter of his bullying nature rising to the surface.
MineralMan
(150,344 posts)He knows no languages other than English, and he is neither a good speaker or writer in that language, either. A poor communicator, he uses verbal emphasis in unorthodox ways, as well.
He shouts. He yells. He speaks emphatically, even if he has little to say. He's a small man trying to look as large as possible.
SalviaBlue
(3,105 posts)When you capitalize everything, you dont have to know the rules; you can cover for your ignorance of the written English language.
He is ignorant and impatient.
I think it is as simple as that.
MineralMan
(150,344 posts)BeerBarrelPolka
(2,156 posts)The logical explanation is that he simply doesn't excel at English grammar. He's a very stupid man.
Ocelot II
(128,352 posts)have more to do with the fact that he's writing the way he thinks (which is shouty and incoherent). He wants us to know that some things are VERY IMPORTANT, and since capitalizing words is the only way you can yell on the Internet, he does it by using all-caps. As well as SHOUTING, he capitalizes the first letter of some words, adjectives as well as nouns, that he wants to emphasize. But although this gives his rants a bit of a Führer vibe it's not so much Germanic as illiterate. You read his social media posts and figure they came from an angry teenager with oppositional-defiant disorder posting from his parents' basement, furious because they're turning off the wi-fi at 10:00 pm so he can't look at porn all night.
Occasionally Trump writes something that might work in Fraktur, though. Maybe he should persuade his Fake Twitter techies to give him that option.

MineralMan
(150,344 posts)Thanks!
Ocelot II
(128,352 posts)allegorical oracle
(6,009 posts)discovering common words like "groceries"? He builds a scaffolding of verbiage, probably with help, and constantly repeats it until it becomes a "patter" that he can blurt out for any occasion.
His childish use of "Thank you for your attention to this matter," is worthy of a bill collector and not much else.