KILL ZONE
POLITICS
Double-speak, empty promises, and carefully crafted nothing. Left, right, center — they're all guilty. We call it out with equal opportunity ruthlessness.
TODAY'S EXECUTIONS
THE KILL LIST
01
→ Lying carefully
Saying something technically true that means the opposite of what you're implying. Politicians have a PhD in this.
02
→ Occasionally agreeing
Sounds noble. In practice it means "we compromised on the free coffee in the break room."
03
→ Soldiers in a war zone
A way to talk about sending people into danger without using any of the words that make it sound like what it is.
04
→Torture
The gold standard of political euphemism. Two pleasant words doing very unpleasant work.
05
→ Civilian casualties
Real people. Real families. Sanitized into a logistics term.
06
→ Tax increase
Nobody votes for a tax increase. Everyone considers a revenue enhancement.
07
→Government spending
Same money. Much more palatable framing.
08
→ Voters we want
Every politician loves hardworking families. Nobody has ever met a lazy family they wanted to mention.
09
→ Big problem
Once reserved for nuclear war. Now applied to anything the speaker wants you to panic about.
10
→ A few people from both sides agreed
If it were actually bipartisan, they wouldn't need to say so.
11
→Whatever the other party did
The universal political descriptor for anything that happened before the speaker took office.
12
→ I'm about to say something murky
A verbal tic that precedes something that is rarely clear and almost never hasn't been said before.
THE RANT
DOUBLE-SPEAK AND
EMPTY PROMISES
How can you tell if a politician is lying? His lips are moving. Politics is often called a circus — a spectacle of grandiose promises, crafted speeches, and carefully orchestrated performances. Beneath the glitter lies a world of double-speak and empty promises that crosses every party line, every administration, and every era.
PROMISES, PROMISES
Here's the uncomfortable truth: broken campaign promises aren't partisan. They're universal. Every administration does it. Every party does it. Sometimes it's inevitable — the landscape shifts, Congress resists, reality intervenes. Sometimes it's just a promise that was never meant to be kept.
A few notable examples, spread evenly across the aisle:
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Barack Obama — "Close Guantanamo Bay." The detention center remains open.
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Donald Trump — "Build a wall and have Mexico pay for it." The wall wasn't completed. Mexico didn't pay.
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Bill Clinton — "National Healthcare System." Faced major resistance. Never implemented.
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George H.W. Bush — "Read my lips: no new taxes." Taxes were raised during his presidency.
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Jimmy Carter — "Energy Independence." The goal wasn't achieved during his term.
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Ronald Reagan — "Balance the federal budget." The deficit grew.
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George W. Bush — "Privatize Social Security." Strong opposition. Never implemented.
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Harry S. Truman — "Universal Health Insurance." Proposed, rejected.
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Lyndon B. Johnson — "War on Poverty." Progress was made. Poverty was not eradicated.
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Donald Trump — "End the war in Ukraine within 24 hours." The conflict continues.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt — "Economic Bill of Rights." Proposed near the end of his presidency, never realized.
The handlers and strategists are generally running the talking points. Some candidates know their message cold. Others are reading from a script someone else wrote. And as the political landscape shifts during a campaign, promises get quietly shelved — the campaign unable to, as they say, "pivot." (Sorry — jargon slipped through.)
"Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river."
— Nikita Khrushchev, who was also a politician
THE ART OF DOUBLE-SPEAK
George Orwell coined the term "double-speak" in his novel 1984 to describe language that deliberately obscures, disguises, or reverses the meaning of words. In politics, it's not fiction — it's standard operating procedure.
"Enhanced interrogation techniques" means torture. "Collateral damage" means civilian casualties. "Investment" means spending. "Revenue enhancement" means tax increases. The language is chosen precisely because it softens the blow, distances the speaker from responsibility, and makes the uncomfortable sound routine.
This isn't just spin. When language is used to obscure the reality of what's being done to real people — particularly in matters of war, poverty, or justice — it's not a communication strategy. It's a moral failure.
SEEING THROUGH THE SMOKE
You don't have to be helpless. A few tools that actually work:
Question everything. When a politician makes a bold claim, ask what specifically they're committing to, how they plan to do it, and what happens if they don't. Vague answers are not answers.
Fact-check. The information is out there. Use it. Don't rely solely on the politician's own words — or their opponents' characterizations of those words. Find primary sources.
Follow the money. Campaign contributions are public record. Who's funding whom tells you more about likely priorities than any speech ever will.
Hold them accountable. Vote. Engage. Make noise. The power actually does lie with the people — but only if the people use it.
Politics will always have its circus elements. The double-speak and the broken promises aren't going away. But they lose their power the moment enough people learn to recognize them for what they are.
We're done nodding. Are you?