A loaded phrase enters the political discourse

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By Philip Elliott Washington Correspondent, TIME Why So Many Politicians Are Talking About World War III The D.C. Brief will be back after the Thanksgiving holiday. In the meantime, here's a look at some of the latest reporting from TIME's Washington Bureau, including Mini Racker's feature on a loaded phrase that's entered the political discourse. Not too long ago, some Americans feared an inexperienced and mercurial President Donald Trump would start World War III. Now, he’s basing his comeback bid on avoiding it. In a recent fundraising email, Trump lamented, “it truly breaks my heart to see Crooked Joe—the weakest and most incompetent president in history—ruin our country as he pushes America to the brink of World War III.” On the campaign trail, he’s boasted that he’s the “only one that will prevent World War III.” Amid ongoing wars between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas, fears about the prospect of another world war are rising, and Trump is just one of the political figures employing such dark language. On the left, the right, and even within the White House, the specter of the kind of global conflict not seen for nearly 80 years is proving to be a useful rhetorical tool, even though it’s a comparison that historians say isn’t apt for the current moment. “This is language, I think, expanding way beyond the capacity for reality to sustain it,” says Jay Winter, a 20th Century war historian and a professor emeritus at Yale. Read the Story » Share This Story

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