The term “Anglo-American” now officially triggers liberals.

On Monday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions brought up this terrifying term in telling how important the office of sheriff is to America.

“The office of Sheriff is a critical part of the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement. We must never erode this historic office,” Sessions said at the National Sheriffs Association Conference.

This benign sentence promptly drove liberals and journalists into hysterics.

“Like i said previously: HE IS A WHOLE WHITE SUPREMACIST!!!!!!!!!!! Y’all this is a direct quote,” tweeted CNN contributor Symone Sanders.

“Jeff Sessions literally called sheriffs a ‘critical part of the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement’. WTF is happening America?? How is this right? How is this American?” whined popular anti-Trump tweeter Brian Krassenstein.

“Do you know anyone who says ‘Anglo-American heritage’ in a sentence?” asked Democratic Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz. “What could possibly be the purpose of saying that other than to pit Americans against each other? For the chief law enforcement officer to use a dog whistle like that is appalling. Best NO vote I ever cast.”

All told, this was an incredibly ridiculous reaction to such an innocuous phrase. One of the top officials in Barack Obama’s Department of Justice praised our “Anglo-American common law system” to a Chinese audience in 2016, prompting no outcries of white supremacy then. (RELATED: Reporters Lose Their Minds After Sessions Makes The Same Historical Point An Obama Appointee Once Did)

Obama himself cited our “Anglo-American legal system” on multiple occasions, once again drawing no controversy.

National Review’s Charles Cooke excoriated the outrage at Sessions’s remarks as completely moronic, which is a reasonable thing to think for anyone who has ever read an American history book. America’s legal system is rooted in English common law and many of the values and traditions we hold so dear are bequeathed to us by our Anglo-American heritage.

Such as the idea of a sheriff, a name and concept we inherited from England, but which Jeff Sessions was denounced as a racist for bringing up.

It’s quite shocking that a nation formed by British colonists may have an Anglo-American heritage, but bear with me here. Most shocking of all is that we recognize this heritage in such things as the flag for Brian Schatz’s home state.

Hopefully, the Democratic senator doesn’t get too upset by the Union Jack in the corner of Hawaii’s flag.

Dear Senator Schatz:
Please take a moment to view the image of the Hawaii State flag. Notice anything ‘Anglo-American?’ pic.twitter.com/v66YWzhzic

— CbZ (@BrouwerClaire) February 13, 2018

While some of the folks who were outraged by Sessions’s remarks may be morons, others certainly know better. The American Civil Liberties Union and Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe attacked Sessions for saying “Anglo-American,” even though both have used the term in their own statements.

A part of this outrage is caused by the fact that it was Jeff Sessions who said it rather than a liberal academic. The media likes to see the attorney general as an unreconstructed klansman and will find every opportunity to select the worst interpretation of his comments and actions.

But it’s not just that Sessions said it that drew so much controversy. The current elite consensus is that America has no inherent culture and suggesting otherwise is racist. Saying “Anglo-American heritage” indicates that this nation is rooted in European culture and is not just a theoretical abstraction. That is a big no-no for our progressive elites.

The consensus would rather imagine the Founders created the nation out of thin air with only John Locke as their guide. The Founders’ definitely had no sense they revolted against crown rule to uphold their rights as Englishmen. That’s just bigoted to think.

In reality, America started as a British colony, and that heritage was essential to our character and future development. Millions of people came to this country from all over the world and assimilated to our Anglo-American heritage. We would not be America otherwise.

Acknowledging that fact is not racist, it’s just the truth. But the new multicultural America demands thinking of this nation as an idea that emerged independently of the colonies’ Anglo culture. The idea of America could have arisen anywhere, and we shouldn’t be so closed-minded to assert that America is a nation with a particular culture and people.

It’s just an idea, and our only heritage is that of being a “nation of immigrants.” So says the elite consensus.

The U.S. attorney general merely saying “Anglo-American heritage” is an affront to that orthodoxy, which is why it was met with so much scorn. The new, transformed America demands we forget that heritage for the sake of diversity.

Unfortunately for Sessions critics, they scream at him in English, further reinforcing the dreaded notion of an Anglo America.

Follow Scott on Twitter and buy his new book, “No Campusfor White Men.”