14 April 2025

Language abuse in Trump’s second term: Why peace, compassion, and empathy matter more than ever

To cement their control, authoritarian leaders have to claim and empty the meaning out of terms such as “peace”, “compassion”, and “empathy”, just as they do when they label other people “fascists”, “radical Marxists”, “tyrants”, “terrorists” or “antisemites” – a trend spotted, for example, by Professor Timothy Snyder and Professor Noam Chomsky.