Lexical Compendium

Sanewashing (also sometimes hyphened as sane-washing) is a term that rose in popularity during the 2024 US Presidential election to describe the practice of minimizing or explaining some of the bizarre rhetoric from Donald Trump (this is often tied to a critique of "the media").

According to Wikipedia, it originated on a Reddit forum in 2020.

The sentiment that the media has been sanewashing Donald Trump and his campaign perhaps shifted a little with the coverage of Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on 27 October 2024. The headline from a NYT article covering the event read Trump at the Garden: A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism.

Tactical frivolity is a form of political protest that uses humor and absurdity as deliberate tactics to undermine authority, defuse tension, and attract public attention.

The term dates back to the 1990s with movements like Reclaim the Streets ^[2] in the UK and groups like the Pink Fairies who protested the 27th G8 summit in Genoa.

In October 2025, the term is also being used to describe protests directed toward ICE in Portland with some protesters dressing in costumes.

A trial balloon is a metaphorical term describing a tentative action or statement meant to test reactions or explore possibilities before committing to a course of action. It's often used in diplomacy, politics, and awkward social situations, where one wants to gauge sentiment or diffuse tension without directly confronting the issue.

The phrase originates from the early days of hot-air ballooning in the late 18th century. British aeronauts would send up small, unmanned balloons as trial balloons to assess weather conditions, wind direction, and other factors before launching a manned flight. By the mid-19th century, the term was being used figuratively, particularly in politics, where governments or individuals would "float" proposals through unofficial channels to gauge public opinion before formally committing. Over time, it came to describe any cautious, preliminary step taken to assess outcomes.

I first heard this term in an interview with Bill Hader on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes) podcast. Hader shared a story about embarrassing himself by badmouthing a movie to someone who starred in it. To mend the social faux pas, he waited an hour and floated a trial balloon by saying, "Um, hey, they’re grilling some chicken over there."

He shared this awkward story with Larry David, who, of course, loved it -- particularly the hilariously ineffectual nature of the "trial balloon" attempt -- and encouraged him to repeat it often.

Trust, but verify is a maxim popularized by US President Ronald Reagon during the Cold War in the 1980s. It's US-origin comes from the Russian proverb, "doveryai, no proveryai." Reagon repeated this frequently during meetings leading up to the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

More recently the phrase has evolved to never trust, always verify (i.e. "Zero Trust") in cybersecurity circles, due to increased risks. ^[2]

In February of 2026, on the subject of Iran nuclear treaties, Netanyahu gave the message to Trump: "Distrust. Distrust, and always verify." ^[3]