Like “Obamagate,” or my favorite, “teach the (nonexistent) controversy” are not themselves meaningful. They are just meant to stir people up. They don’t have to have details or a real basis in fact. It’s just coded language meant to reinforce their existing point of view. Take a look at this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gostak

It doesn’t mean anything, but in Breuer’s short story “The Gostak and the Doshes,” it’s enough to divide people.

This sort of linguistic nightmare plays havoc with a rational person’s thinking, while an emotionally-motivated one can latch on to the slogan and join the rabid mob chanting for whatever head they’re demanding on a pole.

*I am not a linguist or a semanticist.