feeding at the public trough

“Pressing the flesh” refers to shaking hands, usually in a warm and effusive manner. It is an integral part of most political campaigns in normal times. 

Mingling, kissing babies, and pressing the flesh are all ways for politicians to work …

“Presidential fever” is the overwhelming, fervent desire to be elected president of the United States. Presidential fever can also refer to an extreme love of the office of the presidency.

Presidential fever is related to election fever, but the two …

A power grab is a sudden acquisition of power by a person or group. It’s generally seen as unscrupulous and driven by selfish motives.

Ironically, people who already have power are the ones most often accused of carrying out power …

The 19th century British historian Lord Acton famously declared that “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” 

The phrase has become a truism and is often repeated in conversations about politicians allegedly abusing their power. (Even Star Trek …

A “power broker” is someone who wields indirect political power, either by influencing the outcomes of elections or by exercising influence over key decision makers.

A power broker is not usually motivated by ideals, or by lofty policy goals. …

The “power behind the throne” is said to be someone who does not hold an official leadership position but who effectively wields control.

The phrase is usually used in the context of government, to describe someone who is close to …

A pork chopper is a union official who is in his position because of self-interest, not because he has the best interest of the other union members at heart.

Meriam Webster notes that “pork chop” was a slang name for …

A pooh bah is a person with great and often unchecked political power.

A pooh-bah may hold political office but is an ineffective leader who doesn’t accomplish much of anything.

Pooh-bah is generally a derogatory term. It is often used …

A political animal is one who is fascinated by politics and who thrives on being closely involved in politics.

The term was first used by Aristotle. Writing in the mid 4th century, BC, the Greek philosopher declared:

 It is

Rough and tumble, attack-dog style political campaigns are sometimes referred to as pitbull politics.

In the same way, a pitbull politician is one who is relentlessly aggressive and doggedly partisan. 

The term dates back at least to the late 20th …

Pinko is a pejorative word for someone with left-wing views. Over time, the term has evolved and is now often used in a slightly comical way.

Merriam Webster says that pinko was first used in 1925 to mean “a person …

A peanut politician is one who practices politics on a petty scale and who is chiefly motivated by narrow self-interest.

Peanut politicians are also often corrupt, although they usually favor small-scale graft. A peanut politician practices “peanut politics.”

The expression …

A pecking order is a social hierarchy which spells out the specifics of how the power structure operates.

The term was coined by the Norwegian zoologist Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe in the beginning of the 20th century. Schjelderup-Ebbe spend his childhood vacations …

“Peace at any price” is a phrase closely associated with the politics of appeasement, and especially with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his diplomatic approach to Hitler’s Germany. It was once used as a positive term, but became …

Pax Americana refers to a period of relative peace and stability that extended throughout the area of American influence, beginning with the end of World War II.

Pax Americana is also a play off of the ancient idea of Pax …

Political patronage is the system of rewarding political allies with government jobs, especially prestigious positions which pay well and demand little in the way of work. Political patronage is sometimes also referred to as “spoils.”

The political patronage system is …

Someone who is “out of the loop” is uniformed or not given access to shared information, especially to information which is shared informally and on an continual basis, in a grapevine. 

A person who is out of the loop may …

An individual with strong political opinions who does not hesitate to express them.

Typically, a park bench orator speaks out about their views in public. It means much the same thing as a soap box orator, who might be …

“Packing the galleries” is an outdated practice in which campaign managers would fill up the seats at a political convention with their own supporters. In theory, those supporters would then cheer so loudly for their favored candidate that he would …

“One man, one vote” is a slogan used to express an ideal of equal representation for all citizens. One man, one vote is also often expressed as one person, one vote.

In practice, the phrase has been used to argue …

An “opinion leader” is one whose opinions about something have a significant impact on the opinions of others. “Influencer” is sometimes used as a synonym for opinion leader.

In politics, an opinion leader helps to shape public opinion about policies, …

Karl Marx famously declared that religion is the opiate of the people. There are a few conflicting translations of the quote, so that sometimes religion is the “opium of the masses,” and sometimes it’s the “opiate of the people,” but …

The “old guard” is the more conservative, often older, branch of any political grouping.

The old guard of a party might not be politically more conservative than other members of the same party; “conservative,” here, refers to the old guard’s …

An off-year election is one which takes place in a year when a presidential election does not also take place.

Most elections in the United States take place in even-numbered years. As the US Senate’s website notes:

National Elections take

“Not for attribution” refers to a specific kind of arrangement between a journalist and a politician or anyone passing along information to that journalist. 

Journalists make a range of different arrangements with their sources, setting out exactly how the journalists …

A “nose count” is a tally of people to see how many are present. It’s similar to a head count. The census is a form of nose counting.

Linguists have suggested that the origin of the term “nose count” …

“Nobody drowned at Watergate” was a phrase used, especially by supporters of President Richard Nixon, to minimize the impact of the Watergate scandal and to point to scandals in the Democratic party.

On June 17, 1972, five men managed to …

NIMBY is an acronym meaning Not In My Back Yard.

NIMBY refers to people who resist having potentially dangerous or disruptive projects carried out in their own neighborhoods; they usually don’t object to those projects when they are carried out …

In June of 1934, Adolph Hitler ordered his troops to carry out a large-scale purge of suspected dissidents within the Nazi party.

The night of the long knives actually took place over the course of several days and nights. Historians …

The Night Mayor is the informal name for a city official charged with taking care of issues that arise in a city after dark. A growing number of major metropolitan areas in the United States have hired so-called night mayors …

The New Deal was a series of programs created during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was designed to bring immediate economic relief during the Great Depression, as well as to bring about reforms in a number of …

A “mossback” is an extreme conservative, one so bound up in the past and resistant to forward motion that it (figuratively speaking) is covered in moss, like a stone.

The term mossback originally referred to people dodging the draft during …

“Missile gap” is a phrase used during the Cold War, referring to the theory that the US lagged behind the Soviet Union in terms of its ballistic missile defenses.

The US and the USSR were engaged in a high-stakes arms …

The “military industrial complex” is a term referring to all the components of a nation’s military establishment, including the private businesses involved in producing weapons and other military equipment.

The term was popularized by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who used …

“Merchants of death” is a reference to the bankers and arms manufacturers that supplied and funded World War I. The phrase is also used to refer to arms dealers in general. The term has also been extended to other industries.…

McCarthyism takes its name from Senator Joseph McCarthy, who led a campaign against supposed communists living in the United States. McCarthy dominated the so-called “Red Scare” of the 1940s and 1950s, a period when many Americans were afraid that communists …

“Man in the street” is used to evoke the idea of the average voter, with mainstream political opinions and interests. 

Merriam Webster notes that the phrase was first used in 1831, to mean an average or ordinary person. The phrase …

Broadly, a mandate is the authority that voters confer on an elected official to act as their representative. Usually, though, a political mandate, or “popular mandate,” refers to the idea that a political official has been elected because the public …

The first speech that an elected official makes in front of a legislature. The term is most commonly used in the UK and in Commonwealth countries, but it is also used in the US. A maiden speech is also known …

“Machines politics” is a phenomenon in urban politics, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Political machines are characterized by tight organization and a strong centralized leadership, typically in the form of a “boss.” They operate by dominating the political …

The “lunatic fringe” is the wing of a political or social group that holds more extreme views than the rest of that group.  The lunatic fringe tends to hold stronger opinions, as well as more fanatical views.

Merriam Webster notes …

The “loneliest job in the world” is a reference to the presidency of the United States, supposedly a supremely lonely and isolating job because of the enormous responsibility that it entails.

William Howard Taft, upon handing over power to Woodrow …

“Little Tin Box” is the title of a song in the 1959 musical, “Fiorello,” which told the story of one of New York City’s most famous mayors. Fiorello LaGuardia, a progressive politician who was a strong supporter of the …

“Little old ladies in tennis shoes” is a derisive reference to members of the John Birch society.

In 1961, the California Attorney General’s offices investigated the ultra-conservative John Birch society and determined that the group was paranoid and authoritarian …

“Little group of willful men” is a reference to President Woodrow Wilson’s dispute with a group of anti-war congressmen in the lead-up to America’s entry into World War Two.

The dispute led to the introduction of a cloture rule in …

“Kitchen cabinet” is a reference to a president’s informal circle of advisers, as opposed to the official members of his cabinet.

The term was first used during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Jackson took office in 1829, after a bruising …

President Lyndon Baines Johnson was famous for his ability to coerce members of Congress into supporting his legislation. LBJ’s combination of charm, persuasion, and sheer intimidation came to be known as the “Johnson treatment.” 

Johnson was notoriously aggressive, especially when …

John Q. Public is a reference to the ordinary man or woman. His name is used as a shorthand for popular opinion and a personification of the general public.

Katy Waldman described John Q. Public as follows:

He’s an upstanding

“It’s the economy, stupid” was a phrase coined by James Carville in 1992, when he was advising Bill Clinton in his successful run for the White House.

In 1992, the US was experiencing an economic recession and the incumbent president, …

During the Cold War, the division between western Europe and the Soviet bloc countries was called the “iron curtain.” The iron curtain was never a physical barrier, but served as a metaphor to describe the limit of Soviet influence.

The …

In 2017, President Donald Trump announced plans for an “infrastructure week,” a series of high-profile events which were aimed at building support for the president’s trillion-dollar plan to rebuild the country’s highways and bridges.

Said Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn: …

An influence peddler is one who uses their political influence to try and win favors for others. An influence peddler is a bit of a wheeler dealer, trading access in exchange for payment in one form or another.

A similar …

One who already holds a political office. Usually, in US politics, the word incumbent refers to the sitting official who is running for re-election.

A lot of ink has been spilled about whether the incumbent has a better chance of …

An imperial presidency which one characterized by greater powers than are clearly provided for in the Constitution.

The historian Arthur Schlessinger popularized the term with a book, Imperial Presidency, published in 1973. Schlessinger’s book focused on what he saw …

Henry Clay was a U.S. congressman who eventually served as Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams. Clay also ran for the presidency three times, losing on each venture. Today, he is probably best-remembered for a speech in which he …

“I am the law” is a phrase attributed to Frank Hague, the mayor of Jersey City from 1917 until he retired in 1947. He is remembered as the ultimate political boss, in an era when bosses ruled local politics.

Hague …

Hustings are the speeches and campaign events associated with an election cycle. “On the hustings” is a synonym for being on the campaign trail.

The word itself derives from the Old Norse word “husthings,” or “house assembly,” which was a …

A “honeymoon period” is a period of popularity enjoyed by a new leader. Usually, the term refers to an incoming president. Traditionally, both Congress and news outlets give presidents a bit of a break at the start of their first …

“Hizzoner” is a nickname used by journalists to refer to big city mayors, especially in New York City. Hizzoner is a contraction of “his honor,” the mayor’s formal title.

Merriam Webster notes that the term was first used in 1882. …

The phrase “heartbeat away from the presidency” refers to the fact that the vice president will automatically succeed the presidency in the case of the president’s death, disability, or resignation.

The vice presidency is not a powerful position in itself. …

Throwing one’s hat in the ring means announcing one’s intention to compete in a contest. In politics, it means running for political office.

The phrase originally comes from boxing, where contestants would literally throw their hats into the boxing …

A “hatchet man” is an operative in charge of doing political dirty work — or dirty tricks — both during a campaign and sometimes as part of normal government functions.

The word was first popularized during the Watergate scandal. Several …

“Happy Days Are Here Again” is the title of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s official campaign song in 1932. The song remained the unofficial anthem of the Democratic Party for many years.

In 1932, America was mired in the Great Depression. “Happy …

A politician who is undaunted and cheerful, even in the face of adversity, is said to be a “happy warrior.” 

The phrase comes from an 1806 poem by William Wordsworth, titled “Character of the Happy Warrior.” Wordsworth described the “happy …

In politics, a handler manages a candidate during an election. 

A handler can fill a variety of roles. At the lowest end of the spectrum, a handler can take care of the candidate’s basic needs, fetching cups of coffee or …

A “gutter flyer” is a political attack ad, traditionally distributed in paper form. It is also typically anonymous, so that nobody can be held accountable for it or asked to verify the information contained in it.

Gutter flyers are a …

“Guns before butter” refers to the debate over how governments should use their revenue: should resources be used to build up the military, or should they be spent on domestic programs?

The concept of “guns before butter” was probably first …

The practice of backing up diplomatic efforts with a visible show of military might. A nation using gunboat diplomacy is making use of implicit military threats to achieve its policy objectives. 

A gunboat was a relatively small ship which could …

In politics, gridlock is a situation in which the government is unable to pass new legislation, often because the presidency and the Congress are controlled by different political parties.

As the Brookings Institution has pointed out, gridlock has been …

The Great Society was a sweeping set of proposals for social reform, put forward by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and aimed at improving access to education, good jobs, and healthcare for ordinary Americans.

Johnson had already proposed a “War …

The “great debates” were a series of public debates between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas. In 1858 Douglas, an Illinois Democrat, was running for re-election to the US Senate. Lincoln, a Republican, challenged him. The two held a series of …

“Grass will grow in the streets” is a gloom-and-doom phrase sometimes used by politicians to imply that the country will go to economic ruin if they don’t win election, or if their own plan doesn’t prevail.

The phrase is sometimes …

The grassroots are the ordinary people in a region, or in a political party. The “grassroots” level is the opposite of the leadership level. In politics, having grassroots support means having the backing of the people, rather than of party …

A “grand design” refers to any kind of deliberate plan of action. In politics, the term is usually used to mean an overarching strategy or a long-term plan.

A grand design implies long-term thinking.

The opposite of a grand design, …

“Go fight City Hall” is a phrase expressing the futility of trying to battle government bureaucracy. The phrase sounds like a call to action but in fact, it is the opposite. An equivalent would be “you can’t fight City Hall.” …

“Give ’em hell Harry” is a reference to President Harry Truman’s 1948 re-election campaign. It’s also the name of a very successful play and movie.

In 1948, President Harry Truman was running for re-election. During a campaign stop in Bremerton, …

A gag rule prevents members of a legislative body from raising a particular issue, usually because that issue is considered too controversial or divisive.

In the United States, the most famous example of a gag rule involved slavery. Members …

Freedom riders were northerners who took interstate buses down to the south in order to protest Jim Crow and segregation policies.

Most of the freedom riders were college students; about half of them were black and about half were white. …

“Forty acres and a mule” is a popular name for an order which promised freed slave that every family would be given a plot of land, measuring up to 40 acres. The land was to be seized from southern plantation …

In politics, a phrase invoking the average American citizen. The implication is usually that the forgotten man has suffered some major economic hardship and has been neglected by the federal government. 

The phrase was first popularized in 1932 by Franklin …

A floor fight is an argument that threatens to derail either a convention or a congressional proceeding. Most of the time, floor fights are non-violent; the fighting is verbal. However, American history also includes some memorable incidents in which floor …

A series of radio addresses which President Franklin Roosevelt carried out over the course of his presidency. Roosevelt delivered a total of 30 such addresses between 1933 and 1944. They were known as “fireside chats” because they were delivered in …

The person who has his “finger on the button” has the power to launch a nuclear weapon. The expression is used to evoke the possibility of nuclear war and to imply that the president of the United States – or …

The Final Solution was a euphemistic name used by Nazi leaders for their plan to exterminate all of the Jews in Europe. The plan’s full name was the “final solution to the Jewish question.” The plan led to the murder …

A “fifth column” is a group which operates in secret, usually within enemy lines, in order to help further a cause which they secretly support. 

The term originated with Emilio Mola Vidal, a Nationalist general who served under Franco during …

To be”on the fence” is to be hesitant about taking a political stance. Someone who is “on the fence” resists joining one side or the other of an argument, especially when taking a side could be politically risky.

On a …

In politics, a “fat cat” is a rich and influential person, usually one who donates generously to political campaigns. 

Typically, “fat cat” refers to an executive whose earnings vastly exceed those of the average American. The expression suggests that the …

The Fair Deal was a package of economic and social reforms put forward by President Harry Truman, with the stated purpose of giving all Americans access to education, healthcare, and good jobs.

Truman began talking about reform almost as soon …

“Evil empire” was President Ronald Reagan’s name for the USSR.

Reagan often portrayed the struggle between the US and the USSR as a moral war between good and evil. In some of his most famous speeches, he advocated a strong …

“Every Man a King” is the title of a speech delivered in 1934 by Senator Huey Long of Louisiana. The speech, which Long delivered on national radio, is one of Long’s most famous speeches, along with his “Share the Wealth”…

The “Era of Good Feeling” refers to a period in U.S. history from about 1815 until about 1825, characterized by a sense of optimism and positivity. The era is closely associated with the presidency of James Monroe, who served two …

The “eunuch rule” is a reference to the provisions in many state constitutions which prevented state governors from running for a second consecutive term in office. Those provisions have been amended in almost every state; as of 2020, Virginia is …

A list of political opponents kept by the Nixon administration. The phrase “enemies list” is now used as shorthand to refer to suspected abuses of power in any administration.

In 1973, former White House aide John Dean III told the …

“Eight millionaires and a plumber” is a dismissive reference to President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first cabinet.

Eisenhower’s critics complained that the president’s top advisers were all wealthy and therefore, by implication, out of touch with ordinary people. The only exception …

To “electioneer” is to actively take part in an election by working for the election of a candidate or a party.

The word is almost always used in a pejorative sense. Most of the time “electioneering” is used to suggest …

“Effete snobs” was a phrase used by Vice President Spiro Agnew to denounce anti-war protesters, and young intellectuals in general, during the Vietnam era. The phrase quickly caught on and was adopted as a slogan by the anti-war movement.

Agnew …

“Dyed in the wool” is a phrase referring to people who hold very strong opinions and are unwilling to change them. Synonyms include “uncompromising” and “inveterate.” In politics, people might be can be referred to as “dyed in the wool …

“Don’t change horses” is a phrase used to urge voters to stick with the incumbent president during times of turmoil and conflict. The full expression is “don’t change horses mid-stream” (or, sometimes, “don’t swap horses midstream”).

The expression is usually …

In 1948, when President Truman was running for re-election, he frequently attacked the Republican-controlled Congress as the “do-nothing Congress.”

In fact, the 80th Congress passed 388 public laws, making it hard to call it exactly “do nothing.” But, the president …

The domino theory was critical in shaping US foreign policy during the Cold War. Domino theory argued that if one nation became communist, its neighboring states would go the same way. In theory, if one state “fell” to communism, its …