Glossary: Key memes, counterfactuals, dog whistles, canards, euphemisms, innuendoes, insinuations, fake outrages and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Sept. 30-October 4, 2016

blacks: the original racists who blame the true victims–whites. Blacks in America are automatically granted immunity from racism, especially by their African President, who condones their looting and rioting.

This argument supporting racial hatred and even a new segregation is especially displayed in thoughts like these



fact -checking: liberal activism.

financial regulation: government-induced systemic risk. As in the case of Deutsche Bank, the government is actually robbing financial institutions, and blaming them for the 2008 crash that was largely government-induced. Washington created the bank panic that its own heroics were later required to staunch.Synonyms for this include: seizure, confiscation, bank raid, political stunt (an election robbery) playing to the Sanders-Warren crowd, turning banks into public utilities, etc.

Most notable in all of this blame-shifting is the Tea Party/GOP insistence that no crimes were committed because no high-level BANK executive has ever been convicted or jailed. They pretend that no one can say what the banks did wrong, except to make decisions that at the time seemed profitable for them, and, in any event, were forced upon them by federal regulators. Axiomatically, the greatest risk to the economy is financial regulation.

globalism: the plot to undermine US national sovereignty by dividing America into warring ethnic groups and sexual “identities” that can be conquered by the global elite.

healing the racial divide: Stop-and- Frisk.

This is the answer to the question, “How do we reduce gun violence?,  not the question “how do we heal the racial divide?” Stop and Frisk actually increases the racial divide, but this rhetorical sleight-of-hand switches the subject from racial discrimination to crime prevention, absurdly proposing racial profiling as a way to heal the racial divide. In fact, the term “racial divide” is a euphemism for racism and bigotry. How can there be a “divide” over race? Either you judge and treat people by their race or you don’t.

Hillary’s election: the start of the war on whites, Walmart, and the wealthy.

immigrants: African, Latin American, and Middle Eastern interlopers-under Hillary, welcome 30 million refugees from the world’s failed states

justice: in the Obama/Clinton world, always comes at the expense of order, as does “equality.” People will choose law and order over justice and equality every time when confronted with the choice.

the Last Election: as Rudy Guiliani has put it,”There’s no next election. This is it. There is no more time for us left to revive our great country. No more time to repeat our mistakes of the Clinton-Obama years.

This apocalyptic fear mongering will only heighten as Election Day approaches, so look for more outbursts like this Rush Limbaugh classic:

Because this corruption is destroying every institution and every tradition that has defined this nation and its greatness. And it sets out to destroy anybody who wants to maintain those traditions and institutions or strengthen them. And I’m like you, I’m fed up with these people prevailing. But this is what the left has wrought.

narrative peddling: what the race hustlers on the left prefer to problem-solving. Ferguson, Baltimore, Charlotte–all of these so-called “citizens’ uprisings” are really just organized thuggery, caused by the collapse of the black family. (see Victimism,” below)

New York Times: The bankrupt propaganda machine that lives on CIA subsidies.

protest: to Dems and BLM, that thing where private property gets invaded, looted, and destroyed. Aka, a riot.

social justice: the politics of victimization that divides to conquer.

values-based behavior: what has ruined America under Obama/Clinton, with their holier-than-thou sense of moral superiority and same-old same old approach to governing. Donald Trump.on the other hand, is unconventional and will shake things up. His unpredictability is what America needs.

Trump’s transactional calculus applied to all political and economic issues also means the US will be ruderless, totally unreliable to foreign allies, and become a rogue state. Putin will be proven correct: all talk of Western “values” is hypocritical balderdash. As Martin Wolf puts it in the Financial Times:


Victimism: the pernicious liberal narrative that all women, minorities, and sexual deviants (i.e., the LGBT crowd) are due special protection by the federal government because they are victims of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, April 5-12, 2016

Clinton Foundation: the Brazilianization of US politics.

humiliation: A bedrock Trumpian narrative, invoking outrage, victimhood,  and revenge . This narrative of retaliation frames our refusal to exert force abroad as a pathological weakness,   and is fueled by the myth of American Exceptionalism to generate and inform a seething  emotional and philosophical seedbed of violence and retaliation. Singling out “the bad guys” (Mexicans, Muslims, etc.)  assigns blame for feelings of humiliation, vulnerability, and powerlessness. Trump Nation serves as both an audience and a humiliated protagonist who will do anything to reclaim agency and sovereignty. After all, the word humiliation’s Greek root has to do with dirt, subordination, a putting down, hierarchies–the very opposite rhetorical schema  as that of American Exceptionalism. 


legal thieves: government officials. Almost all taxation is over-taxation.

living Constitution: the Lib Dem rationale for limiting the rights of citizens and Congress through judges legislating from the bench.

moral relativism: the seeds of Al Qaeda and ISIS. Rooted in the moral nihilism of the Lib Dems.

“of course”, “no one is saying,” etc: The standard qualifier, designed to counter liberal charges of racism, sexism, etc.  This rhetorical ploy is a smokescreen designed to shift the conversation and reassure the faithful, as Fred Clark argues in his Slactivism blog:

The substance of the Standard Answer comes last because the substantial aspect — punish doctors, not women — isn’t coherent enough to bear the weight of a satisfactory answer. The load-bearing work is done prior to that insubstantial substance. The key component is the dismissive tone — all that “of course” and “no one is saying …” business that denies the legitimacy of the question and thus denies that any response needs to be substantial or logical or coherent. The boldness of this evasion is softened and diffused by the move from singular to plural and from the particular to a vague, undifferentiated “we.”

The Standard Answer, in other words, avoids engaging the question as “What do I think” by shifting the response to “What we say/think/believe is …” This may seem unimportant to the questioner, but it is vitally important to the answerer because, again, this is the primary function of the Standard Answer: reassuring oneself that an answer exists and that “we” have one, and that therefore I do not need to worry about it any further.

religious freedom:  The freedom to exercise your faith-based conscience, even if it means curtailing the freedom of others. The logic of this claim of “freedom” invariably leads to protecting bigots.

supple economy: one with low taxes and little or no regulation. A supple economy works best with a supine government. A well-functioning capitalist system relies on prices for guidance, not rules.

urban school children: victims of the pathology of black culture: absent fathers, drug addiction, hip-hop, etc. Notice how this meme pathologizes all black youth, who already face the high likelihood of prison, police stops, etc.


Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Nov. 21-27, 2015

campus Huns: leftist college students and faculty stifling free speech.

cheap shots: any uncomfortable or inconvenient questions that reporters ask Tea Partiers. (see “sneaky”,. below). These kinds of attacks are also always rooted in political correctness, an Orwellian adherence to the Dem party line.

college: where incompetents indoctrinate sheep-like students in radical nonsense.

counterfeit identities: any lib flavor-of-the-month (see “libsplaining’, below). The only true identities are nation, family, and God. Everything else is unmoored or faked.

fantasy strawman: any attack on GOP positions. (see “cheap shots,” above, and “invective and derision,” below). Obama oversimplifies or exaggerates GOP shortcomings in order to attack them. Any criticism of the GOP is thus a “fantasy,” something that is by definition false and concocted.

foundational values: decency, tolerance, supporters of full rights for women, free speech and practice of religion, etc. Aka, everything Islam opposes.

human rights: in a time of war (such as the one we are now in), a luxury, rich liberal’s play thing–along with freedom of speech and assembly, racial justice, bans against torture, etc.

invective and derision: Obama’s governing rhetorical style

libsplaining: the Orwellian sludge of sanctimonious liberal gibberish and euphemisms, e.g., “safe spaces,” “a legacy of slavery,” “white privilege,” “leading from behind,” “universal human rights,” “disparate impact,” “cisgender,” “workplace violence,” etc. Aka, left-wing trollery, tendentious, question-begging twaddle. Liberalism itself is a progressive propaganda machine whole sole aim is to silence its enemies.

Obama: the hapless and bumbling nutty professor.

sneaky: any reporter who asks Tea Partiers an uncomfortable or inconvenient  question (see “cheap shots”, above)

social justice warriors: grim, angry and arrogant.



assimilation: when Muslims stop practicing their faith and culture.









higher learning: higher moaning.

liberalism: a suicidal modern ideology.


rabid dogs: refugees, according to Ben Carson.



secular satanism: liberalism, aka:


shakedown godfathers: Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.


understand: coddle, as with terrorists.


Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Nov. 13-14, 2015

barbarians: foreigners and immigrants, now said to be “at the gates.”  Calling them barbarians is a necessary rhetorical step towards demonization and dehumanization, both necessary public sentiments if Donald Trump’s plan to deport 12 million immigrants comes to fruition.

contextualization: progressive utopianists’ prevarication and apologetics when it comes to fighting terrorism. (see also “”post-Christian therapeutic society”,  below)

demonization: any Dem characterization of the Tea Party, or any loaded-diaper attack (see below) on Ben Carson.

loaded diaper attacks: college student protests about racism, sexism, etc. on campuses in in American society.  College students, in their coddled privilege and  “maelstrom of insecurity, impecuniousness, immaturity, and the insatiable lust for sex, power, and diversion”, are free to shit all over college administrators and, of course , all normal Americans. All part of the grievance industry–now weaponized victimhood after the resignation of the Univ. of Missouri’s president and Provost.

Old Testament finger-pointing: any defense of Dem positions, such as on climate change, immigration, fighting Islamic terrorism, etc. (see “demonization,” above). Any Dem moral position or policy is thus demonized as intolerant, vengeful, and triumphant, a form of “political absolutism.”)

post-Christian therapeutic society: Obama’s nightmare secular world of leisure and affluence, at least for the Coastal elites. Whereas Obama is post-Christian, ISIS is “pre-modern.” Therapy thus becomes  a substitute for action, an ineffectual talking cure that only encourages disengagement and emboldens “the enemy.”

scapegoating: according to Dems, what Tea Partiers (aka, nativist bigots) do to immigrants whenever they question  US immigration policies.

surrendering: relying on diplomacy and apologetics to combat Islamic terrorism. According to Obama, surrendering is the truest way to “honor our values.” Surrender is his way of “ending” war. (also see “contextualization,” above)

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Sept 21-Oct 1, 2015

conscience rights: any moral position a Tea Partier holds that gives them an exemption from following the law.

crackpot attitudes: Pope Francis’s positions that the Tea Party disagrees with. (See also “leave it to the scientists,” below).

free stuff: any form of government safety-net assistance. While both Romney and Bush have used this Gradgrindian dog-whistle term, neither specifies whether it refers to food, clothing, rent, heat or health care, making it sound less draconian, as if all they are denying the poor are free samples. The rhetorical effect is to imply that the poor are “unfit for democracy.” (see below)

hack ramble: any Hillary speech.

inefficient: Anyone getting government aid (aka,”free stuff). Efficiency is the cardinal operating principle of an unfettered free market.

infanticide: any abortion

leave it to the scientists: the Grand Old Tea Party’s refrain to any of Pope Francis’s homilies about climate change. Of course, as soon as the Pope left the US, they reverted to their habitual mode of constant attack of all and any climate change advocate who cites “the science.”

moralizing: whenever the Pope takes a moral position that the Grand Old Tea Party opposes.  When they support his position, as in the case of abortion and birth control, they call him a moral touchstone, not a “moralizer” issuing “broadsides.”. Aka, “politicizing”. (see “crackpot attitudes,” above)

nice talk: any Obama admin attempt at foreign policy accommodation, negotiation, or moderation. Aka, “singing Kumbaya”.

politicization: what the Pope does when he talks about climate change. (See “Leaving it up to the scientists,” above). Somehow, though, when Republicans talk about Planned Parenthood, Benghazi, or gun control, they do not see themselves as “politicizing” such issues.

small government: the end of the regulatory and welfare state.

social justice: the root of all corruption, inequality, and poverty. The less of an emphasis there is on social justice, redistributionism, and a “cooperative” rather than a competitive economy, the greater the prosperity. Government is, after all, the most impovershing force of all.

unfit for democracy: anyone who voted for Obama. More specifically, refers to anyone getting “free stuff”–see above.

voting: the ultimate consumer approach to governing, Note that this concept does not include any moral obligation whatsoever. In this sense it is the opposite of citizenship, which entails deciding on who gets what, how tax money gets spent, social and foreign policy, etc. To just be courted as a voter without any sense of civic responsibility is akin to having your religiosity reduced to how much you tithe.

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, July 21-25, 2015

all lives matter: a rhetorical way of dismissing #blacklivesmatter.

America’s best interests: not an Obama priority.

apocalypse: the inevitable outcome of the Iranian nuclear deal. Ted Cruz says millions of Americans, Israelis and Europeans  will die as a result, and typical Tea Party bloviation blithely intersperses references to Munich, Hitler, Stalin, and Armageddon. Of course, the really embarrassing moment comes the day after the predicted Armageddon, when the doomsayers have to ‘splain themselves.

austerity: the belief that starving people will make them healthy. Aka, the dog chasing its tail, because as budgets are cut, people laid off, and the social safety net eviscerated, human misery increases and GDP declines.

badgering moralizing: any policy speech or principled political stance by anyone opposed to any Tea Party position

decisive leadership: starting a new war against Iran, Russia and/or ISIS on Day One in the White House

deserved benefits: Social Security and Medicare. Everything else, from food stamps to Medicare–is undeserved, and thus a “handout.”

heritage: in the case of the South (the Old Confederacy), shorthand for slavery–That Which Cannot be Mentioned. Use of this term is a perfect example of so called “empty rhetoric,” which is all symbol and no actual content. Of course, rhetoric is never “empty,” since it always serves a purpose. In this case, the purpose is continued reverence toward a slavery-based society.

limited government and individual freedom: presuppose (rest upon a foundation of) religious faith and traditional values..

the patient: the unborn baby, not the mother.

productive workers: lower-paid, no minimum wage, reduced or abandoned workplace safety and labor standards.The only way the Tea party can meet its impossible dream of a  4% growth rate is through massive changes to labor, tax, welfare, trade and social safety net laws and expenditures. This reductionist, Gradgrindian notion of productivity reduces workers to being cogs in a machine, and doesn’t take any human welfare issues into account. Moreover, as Paul Krugman argues, Jeb Bush’s recent call for American workers to work more is a dog-whistle call to the “makers” (the so-called “job creators”), to take back the nation from the “takers”–the lazy Americans who make up Obama Nation:



scripted talk: the insincere, boilerplate language liberals use to pretend they care about black lives, when all they actually care about is political gain and waving the bloody flag of racism. Thus any Dem talk about preserving the family, the need for education, the avoidance of illegitimacy and drug use–all the real hallmarks of black culture–are smokescreens.

thuggery: any organized opposition to the Tea Party

traditional morality: the only way to both limit government (challenge the Leviathan) and make individuals take moral responsibility for their own well-being.