I think there are more important issues than semantics. And while you may think one side has lost sight of the difference between democracy and democratic republic, that’s a lot better than not seeing the difference between democratic republic and whatever authoritarian rule the leader of the Republican Party has been wishing for since 2016
Also, knowing the difference between a pure democracy and a democratic republic is not semantics, not even close. It’s actually a very very important distinction that would have massive implications.