On the list of movies with the widest gap between the number of one-time and repeat viewers, I’m confident Sophie’s Choice is at or near the top. For those unfamiliar, this is thanks to one of the most gut-wrenching scenes in cinema, in which Sophie is forced – by a Nazi officer who’s evil even by Nazi standards – to choose which of her two small children will be sent to the gas chamber and which will be spared. It is cruelty distilled to its essence.
During his first presidency, Donald Trump instituted his notorious family separation policy, which split about 5500 immigrant children from their parents. A large number of these families are still separated, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Public outcry forced him to end the practice and, in December 2023, a federal judge enacted an eight-year ban on it – just in case the orange offender managed an as-yet-illegal third term in office.
But cruelty, if not clever, is often persistent, and so, since the Maga-master can’t separate families at the border any more, he’s decided to separate undocumented parents from their born-in-the-US-and-therefore-citizen children. Tom Homan, Trump’s new border czar, proudly trumpeted the administration’s plan to deport parents who are here illegally, and bestow upon them the freedom to choose whether to take their kids with them. “You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child,” Homan said. “So you put your family in that position.”
I can’t be sure whether he stuck out his tongue or his middle finger after he said that, but both certainly seemed implicit. And for the record, Homan has four kids of his own, so is clearly also terrific at compartmentalising.
Immigration has vexed US presidents for decades, and I am not interested in, nor qualified to offer, any policy solutions to the problem. But I know mean when I see it, and I further know the easiest, most cowardly way to govern is through fear and intimidation, and that Trump 2.0 promises to take this time-honoured Republican tradition to unprecedented depths.
Find the most downtrodden and vulnerable groups of people and that’s where Maga’s leaders aim the bulk of their fire. Demonise blacks by harping on critical race theory.
Demonise Hispanics with a border war and wall, and make it appear that while data shows undocumented migrants commit crimes at a lower rate than the rest of the population, every murder they commit is blared on cable news for days.
Demonise transgender Americans with $200 million worth of virulent political ads, about $100 each for the 0.5% of the population they comprise.
Trump and his toadies extend their special brand of cruelty inward as well, using fear of retribution – political and physical – to keep party members in line.
There’s no evidence so far that their callousness has a floor or their greed a ceiling. Wherever life is hard for Americans, they seek to make it harder, tearing ever-larger holes in our social safety net to pay for huge tax cuts for their beloved 1%.
The vast majority of Americans I know and meet are kind, decent people. But when made to feel threatened, afraid and under siege – the prime directive of Maga messaging – many of us will turn to the promise of protection, and excuse our protector any and all sins. It’s the sad explanation for the laughter at Trump rallies when he makes fun of disabled people. As Adam Serwer, author of The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump’s America, wrote: “It made them feel closer to one another … Their shared laughter at the suffering of others is an adhesive that binds them to one another, and to Trump.”
I’m optimistic Maga efforts to turn the US into a fully authoritarian state will fail, as will Trump’s attempt at implementing his version of Sophie’s Choice. But something else Serwer wrote struck me as a critical cautionary tale, and reason alone for intense resistance: “Once malice is embraced as a virtue, it is impossible to contain.”
