Sometimes it’s hard not to conclude that people get the fates they deserve. Or that, at least, is what it’s beginning to look like in the US.

The current trial of Donald Trump proves again that words should matter, but also that words are routinely overlooked and often abused. One would hope that people in the media would know better, but rarely do they justify that hope. They continue, for example, to describe the current Manhattan trial as the “hush money” trial, which it isn’t. It’s never been about hush money, just like it’s never been about Donald Trump’s Hugh Hefner dressing gown or the contents of his overnight bag. Or even a woman calling herself “Stormy”.