Nearly all social thinkers (including the artificial ones of AI) emphasize that functioning, peaceful societies must agree on a group of shared meanings for communicating. These include gestures (a handshake, hug, tip of the hat, tap on the heart, etc.), images and symbols, and spoken and written words. They are “the glue that holds society together, enabling individuals to understand each other, cooperate effectively, and build a cohesive and vibrant social life.”

These bonds have been under sharp, repeated attacks during the last 100 days. Shared meanings do change naturally, with words and definitions evolving through grass-roots usage rather than edicts from on-high. But the Trump administration uses executive orders to change geographic titles, and dictates changes in cultural groups and art exhibits. But most importantly, they have taken illegal actions by changing definitions of words which are essential to the Constitution and rule of law.

One glaring example is the term “invasion” in the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a foundation for Trump’s deportations without due process. The Act was abused each time it was used during three earlier declared wars (1812, World War I and II), including the Japanese internment of the 1940s. It states that the executive branch can suspend normal legal procedures because of “an invasion … by a foreign nation or government.” A Texas judge recently stopped deportations there, explaining that the administration misinterprets “the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.” The judge stood by America’s shared, historical understanding that an invasion by another country is a government-supported military assault.

Using that flawed definition, Trump launched another attack by displaying an image he claimed showed gang tattoos on Abrego Garcia’s hand. Everyone outside the administration agrees that the image was photoshopped to add the tattoos, but Trump was outraged when a journalist questioned it. Trustworthy photographs have been altered to change their fundamental, shared meanings for years by government officials and on the internet.

His disastrous trade war also requires changing meanings. He needed to declared a “national emergency” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977, and did on Feb. 1 and April 2, but skipped the required formal hearings to determine if events threatened “national security.”

Ordinarily, a “national emergency” is a rare event requiring immediate action, and “national security” refers to events that threaten citizens’ lives. But Trump’s own order contradicts these definitions by describing our trade imbalance as a “persistent” problem, and doesn’t attempt to identify the national security threat to Americans.

We are asked to accept two opposing definitions at the same time: thousands of poor immigrants crossing the border are defined as a military invasion; a purposely altered image is submitted as an original; a longstanding economic problem is classified as an emergency threatening our national security.

I view our current state as a deadly serious game of constitutional chicken, like the fatal car-over-the-cliff scene in “Rebel without a Cause” or a lunatic childhood game where someone tries to be the last to jump as a locomotive approaches. But I laughed out loud when I stumbled upon an even more extreme example of attacking shared meanings by elected Republicans.

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Careful lawmakers established guardrails in the IEEPA in 1977: if the “national emergency” declaration was challenged in Congress, a vote must be held within 18 days. Clear enough, right?

Nope, not so fast. Republican House members felt powerful enough to change the essential, shared meaning of one of our fundamental beliefs: a day passes every 24 hours. They voted that for the next two years, a day will not “constitute a day for purposes … of the National Emergencies Act.”

House Republicans one-upped Orwell’s Doublethink nightmare in “1984” (e.g., “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery”) by declaring “A day is not a day.” If it’s not a day, what is it? A week? A month? Or nothing at all? Up is down in America today, the president doesn’t know if his sworn oath to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution” means anything, and we can throw away our calendars because all upcoming days aren’t days at all.

These attacks aren’t simply ivory-tower issues for theoretical debate; all have real-life consequences on consumer prices and the safety of our friends and neighbors. This administration intentionally works on destroying shared meanings, dissolving the “glue” that holds society together and nullifying the language that allows us to understand each other. Without a group of shared meanings, we can’t cooperate to rebuild our vibrant American society.

Allen Woods is a freelance writer, author of the Revolutionary-era historical fiction novel “The Sword and Scabbard,” and Greenfield resident. His column appears regularly on a Saturday. Comments are welcome here or at awoods2846@gmail.com.