Personal tragedies, politically exploited by the US President

Donald Trump's State of the Union address was also a cynical exercise in emotional manipulation, in which individual tragedies were used as rhetorical weapons by the US president to justify brutal measures taken against immigrants and transgender people. In a characteristic manner, Trump transformed the tragedies of the victims into political tools, sacrificing the truth in favor of a narrative of fear and hate.

The US president invoked the crime committed by illegal immigrants against American citizen Laken Riley, the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl, by immigrants, the murder of a police officer, Jonathan Diller, by a criminal who had been previously shown 21 times, but also the dramas that several female students went through at the colleges they studied at, due to the promotion of the doctrine regarding LGBTQ+ by the respective institutions.

Donald Trump had no qualms about using the image of a 13-year-old boy, DJ Daniel, who had always wanted to be a police officer, during his speech. DJ was dressed in a police uniform and was lifted by his father to the applause of US congressmen. In 2018, DJ Daniel was diagnosed with brain cancer. Doctors gave him five months to live at most, but he survived and is still alive today. Since then, DJ and his father have tried to fulfill his dream, and DJ was sworn in as an honorary law enforcement officer. Taking advantage of the excitement caused by DJ Daniel's case, Donald Trump asked the new Director of the Secret Service, Sean Curran, to officially make him an agent of the United States Secret Service, and the latter carried out the order of the US president by giving the boy an official ID card in his name.

What Donald Trump has done by publicly presenting these cases in his State of the Union address is a dangerous pattern. Using tragic individual cases to justify harsh policies is not only unethical, but also extremely dangerous. Instead of relying on data and analysis, Trump prefers to trigger strong emotional reactions of fear and anger to impose his agenda. He deliberately ignores the fact that most immigrants come to the United States to work, to escape violence, and to build a better future for themselves. This type of speech only further divides American society, fuels hatred, and justifies extreme measures that can lead to abuses of power and human rights violations. Instead of offering concrete solutions to improve national security, Trump builds his arguments on tragic stories, turning victims into mere political tools.

Ultimately, the greatest tragedy is not only the exploitation of human suffering for political purposes, but also the fact that such a strategy continues to be successful.

Read Donald Trump boasts that he is stronger than George Washington

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