Trump Betrumps

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

With international trade, environmental protection laws and federal agency staffing now in direful pendulum swings, it is meritory to note that the first foretelling of this bedlam has ancient roots. Five hundred years have passed since the verb betrump found its way into print, as noted by the Oxford English Dictionary. Betrump means to deceive or cheat, to elude. Some definitions include another word with old Middle English roots, belirt, which means beguile (and befool) .