“Civility, people!” So shouted my College Republicans colleague as we hosted a debate on abortion, one of the most contentious topics in public life. A professor in attendance had used the f-word: fascist.

Now such language is used by President Joe Biden to describe his political opponents. (To be fair, he prefers “semi-fascist.”) His main rival, former President Donald Trump, is famously no better. Trump is attempting to wind down the Republican primary race by affectionately referring to his last major opponent, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (a job she was appointed to by Trump), as “birdbrain.”