Ai czar, border czar, health czar…
I see it mentioned all the time in the US media but also elsewhere recently, where does this come from?
Czar is historicly the title of Russian rulers. Which these people clearly aren’t, so why the use of this term?
Is it some sort of right wing dogwistle?
It’s orientalism. “Scary far-east Judeo-Bolshevik Asiatic hordes are coming for our women and our toothbrushes!” nonsense that occasionally gets embraced “ironically” by people playing into cartoon villainy. It’s especially gained popularity among liberals in the Democratic party as part of the whole Russiagate explanation for why they keep losing elections.