Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Feb 28-March 4, 2016

abortion exceptionalism: when women are denied access to abortion clinics because the clinics don’t meet health standards. Even if abortion clinics are far less likely to cause medical problems than, say, colonoscopy centers, they are being forced to meet higher health standards, thus placing an “undue burden” on women.

common American culture: Christian American culture.

freedom: to hate. As Chris Hedges, characterizing Trumpists, puts it:

These Americans want a kind of freedom—a freedom to hate. They want the freedom to use words like “nigger,” “kike,” “spic,” “chink,” “raghead” and “fag.” They want the freedom to idealize violence and the gun culture. They want the freedom to have enemies, to physically assault Muslims, undocumented workers, African-Americans, homosexuals and anyone who dares criticize their cryptofascism. They want the freedom to celebrate historical movements and figures that the college-educated elites condemn, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Confederacy. They want the freedom to ridicule and dismiss intellectuals, ideas, science and culture. They want the freedom to silence those who have been telling them how to behave. And they want the freedom to revel in hypermasculinity, racism, sexism and white patriarchy. These are the core sentiments of fascism. These sentiments are engendered by the collapse of the liberal state.

freedom of religion: letting Christians be Christians. “Freedom of religion” in this case clearly does not mean “freedom of religions, ” but freedom of only Christianity.

hate speech: criticism of Trump or the Tea Party. Libs’ self-righteousness makes them inherently and unfailingly intolerant.

immigrants: invaders.

individual responsibility: the cornerstone of the Social Darwinism that lies at the heart of Tea Party ideology. Dems tend to believe in social responsibility instead.

police abuse: abuse of the police, not by the police.

natural-born American citizens: the group of “legitimate” Americans most under threat from foreign “invaders”. Also chronically- unemployed or underemployed.

unelected judges: Tea Party criticism of any Supreme Court decision they don’t like: that it was the verdict of at least five unelected judges. When the decision goes their way, the judges are called “strict constructionists” instead.

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