The present White House cabinet and
staff, after Trump’s requisite session
of fawning, hold the award for the
most negative adjectives: sycophantic,
obsequious, servile, subservient, defer-
ential, groveling, toadying, fawning,
flattering, ingratiating, cringing,
unctuous, slavish, smarmy, bootlicking —
sophisticated synonyms for the phrase
we learned in grade school — brown-
nosing. It took a fellow student to
explain the meaning to me in all its
vivid imagery. You probably don’t want
to hold that thought for too long in
reference to the president’s back-
side. It might be more pleasant to
think of the Cabinet and staff in
terms of smarmy. What a great word.
Unctuous. That’s another great one.
Oh, they are all terrific on their
own and especially in reference to
this crowd.