103
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_clich%C3%A9
As the party fielded more and more candidates who championed economic-right policies in order to attract corporate donations, the idea of "purity testing" was turned into a stock phrase to attack critics using labels, instead of justifying it on its own terms.
Phrases like "moral purity" now serve two functions: firstly, to dismiss criticisms from the Left wholesale without having to discuss them directly, and secondly, to blame them for the rise of fascism.
In theory it was also supposed to serve a third function of bullying the Left into voting Democrat, but that didn't work.
Is there a word for when someone thinks they're arguing against something, but are really just providing a live demonstration of it?
As thought-terminating clichés go, "Shut up and stop arguing" is as pretty much as on-the-nose as it gets.
Good luck with mid terms!
lol, you do realize that witty comebacks rather lose their impact when you use the exact same one to another poster in the same thread, yeah? I'm beginning to see where you got your username.