Hey matter of opinion listeners, it's Carlos. We're taking a break for the rest of the year.

Your favorite podcast host will be back in January to share more of our thoughts allowed.

In the meantime, I'm leaving you here with an audio essay.

Think of it as a stocking stuffer for your feed

that explores the two words that Joe Biden and Donald Trump rely on so much, two words that I think

reveal the stakes in next year's presidential election. So I read this book a few years ago called the speech writer by Barton Swaim who served as a speech writer for a

Southern governor and one of the points he made is that politics is the art of

subtracting meaning from language.

The politicians try to use as many words as possible to say as little as possible.

And I think part of my job as a journalist is to look through those words and try to put the

meaning back. So recently when I was reading through a lot of President

Biden's past speeches I noticed a word he uses quite a bit.

It's a very simple word and the more I found it in his speeches and his press conferences

and his zone writings, the more I realized it reflects his view of America.

America still has the most productive workers in the world.

America still has a choice to make. That sacred flame still burns.

America is still the beacon to the world.

He doesn't just believe in America.

He believes in America still.

It's never ever ever been a good bet. still.

It's never, ever, ever been a good bet to bet against America, and it still isn't.

So Biden says stuff like, we have to show the world America is still a beacon of light.

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