Wingnut (politics)
"Wingnut" is an American political term used as a slur referring to a person who holds extreme, and often irrational, political views, primarily those considered to be right wing.Overview
According to Merriam-Webster, it is "a mentally deranged person" or "one who advocates extreme measures or changes: radical." In American politics, the term is more often aimed at members of the political right than those of the political left, for which the alternative term "moonbat" is more often used. David M. Herszenhorn of The New York Times has defined a "wing nut" as "a loud darling of cable television and talk radio whose remarks are outrageous but often serious enough not to be dismissed entirely." In his book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America author and columnist John Avlon defined a wingnut as, "someone on the far-right wing or far-left wing of the political spectrum—the professional partisans, the unhinged activists and the paranoid conspiracy theorists. They're the people who always try to divide rather than unite us".
