The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Rick Rappaport
The defining moment of current U.S. public policy did not occur in a State of the Union address to Congress or in some “My fellow Americans” televised speech to the nation. Instead, it occurred at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, after Kirk's widow Erika said to those gathered in mourning: “The answer to hate is not hate ...”
How I wish Erika’s words marked that defining moment. Regrettably, it was wrested from her by President Trump, who took center stage and crushed her peace offering of empathy and understanding, flat-out saying he didn’t agree with what she said — almost scolding her for saying it — and rather proudly proclaimed: “I hate my opponents.”
Of all the moments in his presidency that could have shown the American people there was more to it than a retribution tour and more to him than pure venality, that was the moment. I’m not talking here about “reaching across the aisle” — just reaching across her back, pulling her close and in earnest raising both their arms together in solidarity against hate.
Instead, I’m left with a seemingly endless list of whom Trump hates. There doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to hate as many people as he does — but where there’s a will, there’s a way.
And what a will and way it is turning out to be. What used to be U.S. public policy — enacting laws and taking government actions to address core issues of public health, safety and societal goals — has been turned upside down. He blatantly disregards the rule of law. He weaponizes federal agencies to hunt down his opponents and uses the Justice Department as his personal attorney to pursue anyone who dares cross him.
And those government actions? Let's take ICE.
Border issues got Trump elected. He knew if that was unresolved, it was his ticket to a throne, so he bullied Congress into rejecting a sane bipartisan bill that would have been a decent start to a better way forward. He rolled that bill up into a cudgel and threatened to take down anyone who wanted anything other than a Gestapo-like force to attack and deport every person he deemed unworthy to live in America.
ICE's armed, masked and unidentifiable thugs are more like the “brownshirts” of Nazi Germany, daily stomping on any sense of decency and seeking more like them to carry out this national disgrace.
Wish I could say Trump actually has a U.S. public policy, that it's a thinly veiled cover-up of his hateful origins. But there isn't even a veil; it’s just raw, primordial in-your-face hate, expressed daily or hourly with the kind of vulgarity we might expect from an undisciplined 13-year-old. Trump lashes out unchecked and mobilizes the full force of the U.S. government against any perceived “opponents.” Even Marjorie Taylor Greene had to bow out of politics when she opposed some of his actions — and she is a self-described Christian Nationalist with some views that would make Attila the Hun blush.
No dissent is tolerated, full stop.
I’d like to say that to Trump every issue is just black and white, but really there are no blacks, just whites, in Trump’s worldview. Well, there are certain whites excluded, like Jews who didn’t vote for him, or Jews who did vote for him but didn’t give him money, or Jews who did vote for him and gave him money but who wouldn’t denounce other Jews who didn’t. Wait … maybe it’s all Jews?
Far-right politics in Europe and Latin America are rising to levels not seen in decades. Yet, unimaginable as it now seems in America, Erika Kirk has laid the groundwork for defeating hate — by emphasizing kindness and empathy, appreciating the inherent value in all people. Now, Erika Kirk’s personal politics might not be your cup of tea, but for a moment, she took a bold stand against hate with hate rising up all around her, and asked for a different way forward.
Now that sounds like U.S. public policy to me.
