Dehumanization lies at the core of Trump’s recent political moves
By painting select groups of people as targets to be destroyed, the president has given his supporters permission to hate.
Donald Trump’s destruction of political norms is rooted in a single concept: dehumanization.
Trump sought to reduce the Obamas to caricatures while leading the birther movement. He ran for president on the notion Mexico was sending criminals and rapists across the border.
He implied diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives played a role in a deadly plane crash.
And now, in an apparent attempt to root out government workers who might resist his mandates, the Trump White House tells us that in firing these people, he’s eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.
Simply put, Trump has repeatedly dehumanized those who would stand in his way. By painting select groups of people as targets to be destroyed, he has given his supporters permission to hate. In exchange, Trump’s followers have gleefully cheered on stunning acts of inhumanity.
This week alone, we’ve watched the Trump administration strip 26,000 undocumented and unaccompanied children of their legal representation. Those children — some of whom are too young to read or speak — will be left to navigate a complicated court system without assistance, without representation, and likely without the chance to prevail. Displaying that level of cruelty to children is reminiscent of Trump’s first term — when his administration separated children from their families.
No one would treat their own children that way. But undocumented children don’t elicit empathy from Trump and his supporters, because they view them as problems to be eradicated, not humans to be nurtured. Like their immigrant parents, who are now being arrested at menial jobs such as the North Philly car wash that was raided in January, undocumented children are fair game. In Trump’s America, they are to be hunted, not hugged.
The interesting thing about Trump’s strategy is that it pits groups against one another, and even when some Trump supporters fall within the affected groups, they rarely seem to believe Trump’s policies could eventually spell trouble for them.
Venezuelans, some of whom supported Trump’s reelection bid, expressed betrayal after the administration revoked an extension of their temporary protected status in January. That status shields immigrants from deportation if they are from countries damaged by war or natural disasters. In Miami-Dade County, Fla., which Trump won with the help of her community, Adelys Ferro, director of the Venezuelan-American Caucus, spoke up during a news conference.
“They used us,” Ferro said in comments reported by NPR. “During the campaign, the elected officials from the Republican Party, they actually told us that he was not going to touch the documented people. They said, ‘No, it’s with undocumented people.’”
I doubt Venezuelans are the only ones feeling betrayed. Though more than 80% of Black Americans voted for Kamala Harris in the presidential election, Trump made some inroads and increased his percentage of the Black vote.
However, after a campaign in which Trump focused heavily on illegal immigration, he has targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the federal government. He has promised to target federal workers whose jobs focus on civil rights and job discrimination. Trump has also threatened to strip schools of federal funding if they focus on race in any way.
But this is about much more than the racial animus that’s reflected in policies targeting Latinos and African Americans. This is also about power.
The power to target the LGBTQ community, no matter their race or creed. The power to move aside federal workers who might try to stand in Trump’s way. The power to change reality by blaming the Ukrainian victims of a Russian invasion.
The question now is simple: What do we do about it? Now that thousands of federal workers — people of all backgrounds — are being forced from their jobs through no fault of their own. Now that we know it’s not just about undocumented immigrants. Now that we know it’s about more than shutting off opportunities for Black people, what do we do?
Do we continue to allow others to be dehumanized? Or do we finally come together, unite for a common cause, and find the true humanity in ourselves?