Besides a dog whistle for some and a fear lever for others?

> Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents. Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a god, but never without a belief in a devil. -- Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

Yay for modern politics!

A word that nobody cared about a decade ago, and in ten years nobody will care again.

It's used as a way to dehumanize the opponents of regressives. It's pushed on social media by russia, china, and their useful idiots in the west, as a way to further divide the USA. It also serves to distract people from actual problems facing society, like massive judicial inequality and treasonous political corruption.

Ask 1,000 people and get 10,000 answers.