Translation:<\/em> Preserve the dominance and unquestioned political ascendancy of white males. Keep America \u2018pure. Stop letting immigrants \u2018steal\u2019 our jobs. Stop letting these pesky women, with their ideas about equal pay, gain power in the boardroom and in politics. Let\u2019s go back to the days when white people ran the country and we didn\u2019t have to attend to the needs of minorities or even associate with them or acknowledge ‘their’ existence.<\/p>\n

Broad-shouldered defense<\/h3>\n

Republican Mike Pence slipped this in during the 2016 Vice Presidential debate.Translation<\/em>:\u201cMen are better warriors. Women [Hillary Clinton, of course], with their narrower shoulders, weak female bodies and yukky monthly menstrual cycles, aren\u2019t manly or aggressive enough to stand up for America. Women do not belong in the military\u2014they are destroying morale.<\/p>\n

Passionate<\/h3>\n

Donald Trump and his surrogates use this term to describe his followers.Translation<\/em>: angry, alienated, willing to call people names, prone to using racial, xenophobic and misogynistic slurs and even resorting to violence.<\/p>\n

Deplorables<\/h3>\n

Hillary Clinton used this label to describe some of Trump\u2019s supporters. See \u2018Passionate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stamina<\/h3>\n

Trump says that Hillary Clinton lacks the stamina to be President. Translation<\/em>: Testosterone, balls, masculinity. Basically, she\u2019s a woman: They bleed from their ‘whatever.’.<\/p>\n

The Presidential look<\/h3>\n

According to Trump, Hillary doesn\u2019t have it. Translation<\/em>: Only men can be presidents.<\/p>\n

Alt-right<\/h3>\n

The term du jour<\/em> that attempts to sanitize, with a new name,the extreme right-wing of the Republican party. Translation<\/em>: People, organizations, websites, bloggers and news outlets that espouse extreme, radical, white supremacist, nativist hate. Much more muscular than the Tea Party. Not to be confused with traditional Republican conservatism, which is mild and wimpy by comparison.<\/p>\n

Locker room<\/h3>\n

Caught on tape bragging about his own entitlement to engage in sexual assault, Trump dismisses the conversation as locker-room talk. Translation:<\/em> Boys will be boys. This is normal conversation and behavior for males. We brag to each other about our sexual predilections, fantasies and conquests, and no one thinks there’s anything wrong with that. People who complain about it are wimps [not masculine like me]. Get over it. Women lie about sexual abuse all the time. Sexual abuse is not a problem.<\/p>\n

Temperament<\/h3>\n

This code word has different meanings when used by Trump and by Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n

Translation for Trump:<\/em> She\u2019s a woman. They cry. They complain. They\u2019re weak. They lie. It\u2019s all their fault. They\u2019re ball-breakers and should just go back to changing diapers, getting our dinner on the table on time, and stop trying to take our power away from us. Also, see “stamina.”<\/p>\n

Translation for Hillary Clinton<\/em>: Donald Trump is psychologically unstable, thin-skinned, can\u2019t take any criticism. His anger is out of control. He throws public temper tantrums. He\u2019s an emotional 6-year-old who should not be trusted to use mature judgment when given the power of the presidency. He\u2019s dangerous and unfit for public office. Bat-shit crazy and out of control.<\/p>\n

Smile<\/h3>\n

Republican haters of Hillary Clinton, as well as political pundits and commentators [some of them women], have variously advised her to \u201csmile more,\u201d and \u201csmile less.\u201d Translation<\/em>: Woman. Too ambitious. Not nice, not ladylike. Too strong. Too weak. Not attractive the way a lady should be. I just want to ogle women [the ones I think are attractive enough for me] and not have to listen to their “ideas.” Out of place in a world where males should be in charge. Too wonky for a woman\u2014stop worrying your pretty little head about these things, little lady. And not just you, Hillary–all you gals. Just be pretty for me and serve my needs–that’s your job–be happy with what you’ve got..<\/p>\n

Politically incorrect<\/h3>\n

Donald Trump and his minions claim that it’s a virtue to buck the prevailing norm of political correctness.Translation:<\/em> We can be as offensive as we want to be. We can insult minorities, shame women, incite violence, and make up our own facts. We’re “outsiders,” so we don’t have to care about being diplomatic, or displaying common decency or courtesy. That’s for suckers, losers and touchy-feely left-wingers. We’re entitled to say anything at all, and who cares who gets hurt or whether we are permanently undermining the civility that is a basic underpinning of a democratic system. We won’t play by the rules. We’re having a tantrum, and you can’t stop us.<\/p>\n

One final comment:\u00a0 Although code words are still very much in play–and we can expect more in the days and years to come–the dog-whistle world seems to be evolving. While coded language can be and is used to hide real sentiments, there’s a simultaneous trend toward just coming right out and expressing whatever offensive thing comes to mind at the moment. At least the use of code words served as a tacit acknowledgement that it was societally unacceptable to say some of this stuff outright. The way things seem to be going, it’s becoming more normal for people to talk openly and unabashedly about–and even act on–their worst impulses. And that may be even scarier than the code words themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politicians have been using code words for many years [Remember \u201cstates rights,\u201d one of the all-time classic code words, meaning institutionalized segregation and racism?]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2119,1363],"tags":[2792,2459,2422,1362,2791],"yoast_head":"\n