http://lobelog.com/winning-may-be-the-only-thing-for-trump-but-not-for-the-u-s/#more-37390

Winning May Be the Only Thing for Trump, But Not For the U.S.

by Paul R. Pillar
A slogan from the sports world—”winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing”—which usually is associated with Vince Lombardi, although he probably got it from another football coach, has always had a vacuous quality.  It sounds like an attempt to make a contrast where there isn’t really a contrast.  What meaningful difference is there between “everything” and “only thing”?  But if there is any semantic substance to the phrase, maybe it has to do with winning as a pure, abstract value in its own right, separate from anything about the specific endeavor that was the vehicle for one contestant winning and another one losing.  Winning per se is seen as the only thing that matters because everything else about the game that was played and won doesn’t matter.  And in the sports world, this begins to make sense; the activity is just a game, and it really doesn’t matter in the larger course of human events. http://lobelog.com/winning-may-be-the-only-thing-for-trump-but-not-for-the-u-s/#more-37390