radicalize
In the aftermath of the killing in San Bernardino, law enforcement learned that the shooters were "radicalized," or recruited to support, the terrorist group ISIS. A portion of the debate was spent discussing this new development in the reach of terror organizations and how to combat it.
This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries.
--Senator Marco Rubio
refugee
The dominant view among the Republican candidates at the debate was that the U.S. should not allow Syrian refugees in because the nation cannot afford to risk admitting a terrorist posing as a refugee into the country. For a Current Events Mini-Lesson on the Syrian refugee crisis, see
The Syrian Refugee Crisis Continues.
Border security is national security and we will not be admitting jihadists as refugees. We will keep America safe.
-Senator Ted Cruz
triad
Triad means a set of three, with dyad being a set of two and tetrad being a set of four. Monad means a single thing or unit, but also has a lot of technical definitions in various fields that only tangentially relate to the single unit definition.
The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important -- all three of them are critical.
-Senator Marco Rubio
topple
When you are a dictator, you are not just unseated or removed from your position. You get toppled, a word reserved for big dramatic upheavals. That exact replica of the Eiffel Tower made out of toothpicks that you've been working on for weeks?. In the event of it's collapse, feel free to use topple to describe it.
Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam.
-Senator Rand Paul
vet
Chances are you know two vet nouns: a veteran of a war, and a veterinarian, an animal doctor. The vetin the sentence is the verb form of this word, and though it's not obvious, it derives from the animal doctor sense of the word. A horse sent to the vet would be vetted, or "checked out," before it could race.
President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees.
-Senator Ted Cruz
amnesty
Immigration was once again an important topic in the debate, and here Senator Cruz accuses Senator Rubio of supporting a plan that would grant citizenship to people who came to this country illegally if they meet certain criteria and fulfill certain obligations. You could call this plan amnesty because it can be seen as forgiving the offense of entering the country illegally in the first place.
Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan.
-Senator Ted Cruz
utopian
A utopia is a perfect place, a dream world. Like a lot of dreams, there are two basic opinions one can have about utopias- that they are something to reach for, even if they are never achieved, or that they are foolish notions that can prevent you from seeing reality. Here, Senator Rand Paul takes the second view, suggesting that the reality we are blind to if we embrace a utopian view is a very dangerous reality indeed.
We have to have a more realistic foreign policy and not a utopian one where we say, oh, we're going to spread freedom and democracy, and everybody in the Middle East is going to love us.
- Senator Rand Paul
encryption
Encryption comes from a Greek root meaning "hidden," and it involves hiding what you want to say in a code. As Gov. Kasich points out, it is a serious technological obstacle in tracking the movements or conversations of terrorists if you first have to decode the message.
In addition to that... there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost.
- Governor John Kasich
destabilize
When discussing the Middle East it's hard for politicians to avoid this word that refers to the imbalances of power and emergence of violence in the wake of U.S. intervention and revolution.
And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important.
-Donald Trump
regime
An often-used phrase in the debate was "regime change." This refers to removing the leader of a country from power was when Saddam Hussein was removed from power in Iraq. The candidates were split as to whether regime change is a good idea, with some saying that it must be done and others claiming that remaking a whole country is a distraction from the real goal, destroying the enemy within a country, like ISIS.
I think those who have wanted regime change have made a mistake. When we toppled Gadhafi in Libya, I think that was a mistake. I think ISIS grew stronger, we had a failed state, and we were more at risk.
- Sen. Paul
focus
Setting priority and areas of focus is one of a president's most important jobs, so it's no surprise that this word featured prominently in last night's debate.
The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today.
- Gov. Jeb Bush
surveillance
Surveillance is watching over or monitoring something. When you listen to your sister's phone conversation without her knowing, you are engaging in surveillance. Here, Gov. Christie is referring to his time as a federal prosecutor for the state of New Jersey, when he worked closely with people monitoring phone conversations and other communications in an effort to ruin terrorist plots.
Now, I spent seven years of my life in the immediate aftermath of September 11th doing this work, working with the Patriot Act, working with our law enforcement, working with the surveillance community to make sure that we keep America safe.
-Gov. Chris Christie
deterrence
To deter someone is to discourage or frighten them away from doing something you don't want them to do. In this case the stakes couldn't be higher, as Sen. Rubio mentions the deterrent effect of America having nuclear weapons, suggesting that other countries are less likely to provoke the United States because they fear we will use our nuclear arsenal.
The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important -- all three of them are critical.It gives us the ability at deterrence.
-Sen. Rubio
maniac
It's hard to consider Donald Trump without thinking about his use of vocabulary that most politicians avoid. Here he uses maniac to refer to a potential irrational dictator or terrorist in possession of a nuclear weapon, but previous to this debate, he referred to fellow Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz using the same word.
The biggest problem we have is...nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now.
- Donald Trump
bombastic
When Carly Fiorina refers to "bombastic insults," she's referring to the way Donald Trump conducts himself. "Bombastic" really refers to the pompous, pretentious side of "lofty."
Citizens, it's time to take our country back.
Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation.
- Carly Fiorina
resolute
Dr. Ben Carson responded to a question about whether he was tough enough to be Commander-in-Chief with this statement about the role of the President in times of war.
Ruthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done.
-Dr. Ben Carson
concert
No, it's not a rock concert, but the verb form of this word, which means "to act together with someone else to accomplish a goal." This goal can be a secret scheme, but as this quote from Jeb Bush shows, it doesn't have to be.
We need to embed our forces -- our troops inside the Iraqi military. We need to arm directly the Kurds. And all of that has to be done in concert with the Arab nations. And if we're going to ban all Muslims, how are we going to get them to be part of a coalition to destroy ISIS?
- Gov. Bush
boisterous
The debate dealt a great deal with what it means to be a leader, and issues of personal character were discussed. Dr. Ben Carson, who has been criticized for being soft-spoken, addresses this criticism by contrasting his demeanor with that of someone boisterous, a word associated with buffoons and clowns.
And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength.
- Dr. Ben Carson
ineptitude
Fiorina refers in this quote to a Department of Homeland Security policy to not check the social media posts of people they are investigating.
For heaven's sakes, every parent in America is checking social media and every employer is as well, but our government can't do it. The bureaucratic procedures are so far behind. Our government has become incompetent, unresponsive, corrupt. And that incompetence, ineptitude, lack of accountability is now dangerous.
-Carly Fiorina
infiltrate
Prior to the debate, Donald Trump has suggested he would "shut down" parts of the internet in order to prevent ISIS and other terrorist organizations from using it as a recruiting tool. In this quote he considers another plan.
What I like even better than that is getting our smartest and getting our best to infiltrate their Internet, so that we know exactly where they're going, exactly where they're going to be. I like that better.
-Donald Trump
