It is more than safe to say the United States is in the midst of a national unraveling–though not just politically. There is an established sense of apathy coursing through the veins of America’s elite, one that normalizes indifference to murder and praises unnecessary displays of power. Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA), a political slogan that has, in recent years, rebranded itself into a far-right-wing movement, is the perfect emblem of selective empathy. A system rooted in malicious duplicity, Trump’s administration–and consequently, his supporters–have displayed a natural inclination to show compassion only to their own benefit.
Trump’s reaction to far-right activist and influencer Charlie Kirk’s assasantion in early September of 2025 was driven by outrage and a thirst for justice; the murders of law abiding citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents in January of 2026 were twisted into anti-immigration propaganda. Trump’s vocal support and admiration for U.S. army veterans has branded him an American hero amongst his supporters; the Trump administration calumniated purple heart recipient William Vermie after being detained and refused the right to an attorney by federal agents. Trump has repeatedly vowed to protect the unborn children of America, promising unequivocal support of his pro-life followers; five-year-old Liam Ramos was taken from his home and transported to a Texas detention center where he was treated as a savage criminal. There is a disconnect between what is preached and what is practiced, a discrepancy far too familiar to Trump’s perfected hypocrisy.
A term coined in 1908, the word empathy was originally translated from the German word “Einfühlung”, meaning “in-feeling.” Since its original usage, empathy has since developed into a term used to describe, as it appears in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.” To accept this definition is to question America’s amenability towards a leader whose apathy lies at the forefront of his ideology. Trump’s selective empathy, a phrase that is contradictory in itself, is an utter disgrace to the universal impartiality that the very idea of empathy encompasses. Deciding when and toward whom one’s empathy is extended overlooks its essential “in-feeling” nature, reducing it instead to a pre-meditated, carefully calculated strategy. It is arguably safe to say that, through his parochial approach of empathy, Trump is both rejecting the term as a whole and practicing a level of apathy that can only be achieved through an egocentric mindset.
This lack of both empathy and fair-mindedness is not foreign to far-right extremists–in fact, it has become a standard to which only the most powerful figures have begun holding themselves to. In an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience which aired in February of 2025, Elon Musk stated “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” Is this notion, one that deems empathy self-destructive and threatening amongst conservative circles, a defense mechanism? Or is this aversion to emotionally connecting with and understanding others an attempt to inflict destruction without consequence?
If anything, demonizing empathy is just another way for politicians like Trump to justify their innate narcissistic tendencies. Following the murder of American actor, filmmaker, and activist Rob Reiner in December of 2025, Trump shared a particularly tone-deaf and entirely unprofessional post on Truth Social, where he stated that Reiner’s death was a result of “the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” Reiner’s death has proven to hold zero correlation to his political beliefs, despite Trump’s inappropriate assertion. Since Reiner’s death, Trump has failed to display any sense of remorse or guilt over the seemingly impetuous post, despite his own supporters’ apprehension towards this level of defamation.
For those of us who have been and remain vigilant towards Trump’s ongoing denigration, this display of apathy and gradebook narcissism holds no essence of surprise. The inability to find empathy for those who differ from us is, arguably, the substantial weakness of Western civilization. In a world of strict binaries, the prospect of human connection contrived through empathy is key to saving societies from complete political and social destruction. To consider empathy a threat is to confuse compassion with weakness–and as Maya Angelou famously quotes, “I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.”
