Somehow the new word invented by Mr. Trump, covfefe, reminds me the Chinese character invented by Empress Regnant Wu Zetian, 曌.
The invented character sounds the same as the character of her first name, 照, and combines two characters, 明 (light or bright) over 空 (sky). And 明 is further formed by two characters, meaning the Sun and the Moon. The implication was that she and her rule were like the Sun and the Moon in the sky. Coincidentally, at that time, China was at the peak of one of its glorious dynasties, Tang Dynasty, while Europe was walking into its Dark Age.
Interestingly, Wu was an administrator of the court during the illness of her husband, Emperor Gaozong, became de facto the ruler as Empress Dowager after Gaozong’s death and after installing her youngest son as a puppy emperor. Later she simply took it over and became Empress Regnant Wu, with a different dynasty name Zhou. The official view of Wu Zetian was historically negative because she “stole” the imperial power. And she left her tombstone blank because she felt no words could describe her greatness.
By the way, one version of the story places Mulan in the same time period.
Regardless how one evaluates Wu Zetian. No one can deny the fact that China was greatly expanded during her rule, in territory, in culture, in religion, and in economy, …
One thousand and some three hundred years later, the president of “a shining city upon a hill” invented a word without a definition.
Without a definition, it has no meaning. If we draw a parallel with Empress Regnant Wu Zetian, we have no choice but speculate that the presidency of Mr. Trump does not look too good.