One thing about language and symbolism is that embedded in such phenomena is the imprint of social function. When things are put into words, when discourse arises around something, it makes it much more real to us social animals; few want to be truly alone. Language, through its very nature, implies a sharing and by extension, a community. To speak of something is to remove the isolation of that thing existing only in oneself. The language, or the symbol, confirms the existence of its referent in the minds of others.
This is one thing that makes Trump such an interesting and powerful figure. With his person, his words, and his acts in full view and taken readily up into discourse, our predicament can no longer be spun away with propaganda or pushed to the side: everyone knows, and everyone knows that everyone else knows, that the political system as it exists is in serious trouble. Through the symbol, a quality of fear is established by virtue of the fear being shared by a large enough number.
But this fear is not monolithic, because through the fear is a sense of possibility. There emerges a new aggressive vision of what can be, whose potentiality grows all the more as the body politic is slighted. One thinks: to hell with it, let's ask for more. And of course the reactionaries, upon coming face to face with this growing radicalism say: the gloves come off, our inferiors are growing too restless.
The functionality of language works in positive ways as well. Part of how identity works is that building up a language around what one is - especially if one is a marginalized person - helps to legitimize oneself through a social recognition of one's character.
