This is my first post in StackExchange. Please do tell if I made any mistakes.
I'm looking for a phrase or word that fits this situation:
A person (referred as X below) in a community, presumably having some sort of power, takes an approach that the vast majority of the community disagrees.
Another person (Y) tries to defend X but is frowned upon by the others.
One of them commented:
"Stop ______, Y. It's disgusting. We all despise X and nobody here should be with him."
Some words like "defending", "convoying" might do, but I wish to use a phrase that adds an obviously negative sense to the context.
Is there a phrase or word that applies for the person's comment?
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Best Answer
An apologist is "a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial" (here).
This can be made to work in your example as something like:
Despite the fact that it is not a verb, I think this word works better than the other suggestions so far since it is the only one that explicitly mentions in its definition the notion of controversy.
Polemicize may also work. It means (roughly) to give a controversial argument or an argument for something controversial.