In his first three weeks of office, President Donald Trump has made erratic executive orders, implemented a modern day spoils system and spewed vehemently harmful rhetoric about Palestinians, undocumented immigrants and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Many Americans are not able to escape the presidential news by simply shutting off their television screens — they’re experiencing it in their daily lives from rising inflation to the frequent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Donald Trump is dousing democracy in gasoline and lighting it on fire, only to have it replaced by Fox News anchors, faulty air traffic control and a decreased agricultural working class.
The lack of empathy towards people began with the aforementioned, but it has come to an inevitable head with the cancellation of the ceasefire between the Palestinian people and the Israeli Defense Forces.
The culmination of his executive orders and oppressive rhetoric were actions as apathetic as they come, but the death of empathy for others within the Republican Party and the administration shows itself in his proposition to cancel the ceasefire and make Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
President Trump has a rocky track history with showing compassion and empathy for other human beings, but as of recent, his apathy is shining bright. He stated that “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas does not release Israeli hostages by February 15.
Without providing further clarification, CNN reported that Trump referred to the Gaza strip as a future real estate opportunity. Despite his aides stating that the relocation of Palestinian people would be temporary, Trump has other plans regarding the future of the region.
“I would own this — think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land,” Trump said to CNN.
It’s no secret that our President has an amicable relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and no secret that relations between Israel and the U.S. have been strong since the inception of the state of Israel itself in 1948. Trump has made it clear that he is not willing to strain this relationship despite the loss of thousands of Palestinian lives.
To the president, the Gaza strip isn’t a land with thousands of years of architecture, history and culture but an uninhabited place to capitalize off of. This is very telling of his mindset regarding the future of Palestinian people; he doesn’t see one nor cares to protect it at all.
He placates Israeli settlers and Netanyahu by not only threatening to displace the indigenous Palestinian people from their own land, but also by proposing to liquidate them and their culture altogether.
America’s own colonial history, much like Israel’s, has blood all over it. America’s colonial legacy is only being exacerbated by Trump’s actions. The cancellation of the ceasefire is the nail in the coffin for all aforementioned oppressed peoples both in America and around the world who have been directly affected by Trump’s policies.
His lack of empathy toward Palestinian people is not just a reflection of how he feels towards the people of the Middle East; it is a reflection of how he feels towards human life. Who’s to say that the lack of humanity towards them will not translate to his treatment of other oppressed people and minorities in the U.S?
Rebecca Do is an Opinion Staff Writer. She can be reached at dort@uci.edu.