“Let’s go, Brandon” is not just a protest phrase. For some far-right extremists, it’s an implicit permission slip to promote a more hostile — even violent — attitude toward the sitting U.S. president and his supporters. Dog whistles in today’s politics are not mere inside jokes; they can become ticking time bombs that incite real harm.

Look no further than the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, a violent event precipitated by reckless rhetoric from the nation’s commander-in-chief. Many fellow Republicans either privately dismissed Trump’s claims of a stolen election hoping it would blow over or, worse, publicly promoted them — only to see those words used as the justification by extremists for storming the seat of American government.

Words matter. Yet Republicans apparently have not learned the lesson because we’ve continued to hear incendiary messaging propagated from GOP corners, culminating in this most recent foul rallying cry against President Biden.