After working alongside leaders in the US finance industry for 10 years, I took the leap in early 2025 to train in and transition to something I love: forensic linguistic analysis. It marks a return to my interests at university (I have a BA in Cultural Studies with a minor in Comparative Literature). I love to understand why things happen, what they mean, and what motivates us. Linguistic analysis is the “true crime” of language, and I love to solve a good mystery!
In December 2025, I launched my free Substack newsletter The Literal Subtext. I publish articles every week that dissect the language of public figures and help readers see the story within the story, and the news before it’s news (often a month or more before it hits the mainstream headlines).
A few of my prescient articles include:
December 15: What President Trump’s “I Can’t Talk About” it To POLITICO Really Means (that Operation Absolute Resolve was scheduled for December 24, 2025 “in the dark, dead of night”; while a strike occurred on Dec 24 and was not reported until Dec 29, the actual kidnapping event was delayed to Jan 3 due to poor weather conditions)
January 5: Special Envoy to Greenland Jeff Landry’s Dec 22 Instagram reel revealed President Trump’s determination to unilaterally get Greenland, including the potential for military action to do so (the Greenland rhetoric escalated in January to near crisis levels until abating on Jan 21 in Davos; it was reported that military action did not happen because senior military commanders talked the President down from it)
January 29: Open AI’s User Problem dissected a Dec 15 interview with Sam Altman to reveal some likely health issues about the company, and Altman’s full awareness of them and the consequences
February 10: The Message Within the Message compared the President’s Super Bowl Messages in 2025 and 2026 and showed a 2026 mindset focused on territorial expansion (an expanded definition of “America”), likely military conflict, and increasing division domestically. (The strategic map of “Greater North America” was revealed by Secretary Hegseth on March 5 2026 at the Counter Cartel Conference; the Iran War began on February 28)
February 18: Marco Rubio in Munich revealed the undertones that nearly everyone missed from the speech — from planning for a new cold war against the “new tyranny in the East” (China) to the Administration’s 100-year plan to subsume Europe (“claim our inheritance”).
March 18: The Cliff at the End examined President Trump’s language to show his intention to “renegotiate” the Panama Canal. It also illustrated how the US Administration’s consistent silence on Canada signals their likely intentions to take future action (our worst crimes are always confessed last).