Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont announced Monday he will run for reelection this year, squelching speculation that the 82-year-old progressive icon might retire at a time when the Democratic Party is anxious about the advancing age of its top leaders.
Hailing from a Democratic stronghold, Sanders’ decision virtually guarantees that he will return to Washington for a fourth Senate term. And his announcement comes at a critical moment for Democrats as the party navigates a growing divide over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Sanders has criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of the U.S. relationship with Israel even as he’s hailed much of Biden’s domestic agenda ahead of what could be a tough reelection fight for Biden against presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
… Squelching?
Seems like they landed right in-between squashing and quelling.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/squelch
1
a : to fall or stamp on so as to crush
b (1)
: to completely suppress : quell
squelch resistance
(2)
: silence
squelched the protesters
Forgive the loss of formatting, but it’s perfectly valid. They say sense 1a dates from at least 1624, before the invention of radio (1895), so it’s not like it was made up for radio and then used more generally.
Squelching is a word but I normally see it in shortwave radio terminology.
Yeah, it either means something in an electronics context, or describes the sound made when squeezing something mucky.
Definitely not the word they were looking for here.