Cruelty in politics and unelected puppet masters

By Lou Agosta on March 11, 2025

I and Alex Zonis (coauthor) write this post as concerned citizens and independent voters. We have sent this post to every US Senator using the web form (https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm). While I hope you agree with at least some of the things we write, we urge you to communicate with your elected officials and let them know your concerns.

We call on elected officials to speak out against the politics of cruelty being perpetrated by unelected advisors Stephen Miller and Elon Musk (who we would refer to as “puppet masters” since they are pulling the strings) and the misguided figurehead behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

For example: The chief law enforcement officer (President Trump, hereafter, President T) has granted clemency to those who used lethal violence against police and potentially members of the Congress itself on 1/6/21. This is a scandal. For someone who supports the police this is a disgrace. A new Trail of Tears comes forth.

For example, NewYorkTimes Jan 23^rd 2025 by Alan Feuer and Dmitriy Khavin: Many Jan. 6 Rioters Pardoned by Trump Attacked Police, Videos Show: “His [President T’s] grant of clemency comes despite a wealth of evidence about their crimes, including videos used against them by the Justice Department [….]”

“Some of the videos document the gruesome moment when Officer Fanone, who rushed to defend the Capitol on his day off, was dragged into the crowd by Mr. Head, beaten by Mr. Young and then attacked with a stun gun by Mr. Rodriguez [….]” The Times article continues:

“Video from Officer Fanone’s body camera shows Mr. Rodriguez driving the stun gun into Officer Fanone’s neck, causing him to scream. Officer Fanone, who has since left the police force, sustained grievous injuries that day and suffered a heart attack [….] On those same steps, an Arkansas man named Peter Stager used an American flag to pummel another officer who was lying prone on the ground after being dragged into the heaving crowd [….]”

Wall Street Journal Jan 21, 2025 by Sadie Follow, Jan 6 Defendant Leave Prison: “Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) told reporters Tuesday. “But anyone who was convicted of assault on a police officer, I just can’t get there at all. I think it was a bad idea.” [….] The Fraternal Order of Police, which endorsed Trump, said in a joint statement with the International Association of Chiefs of Police that it was “deeply discouraged” by the pardons of people who assaulted officers. [….]

Why the Perception of Cruelty is So Strong:

State Capture, Medicaid Cuts and Tax Breaks:

Efforts to cut Medicaid funding reveal a commitment to systemic cruelty. Proposals to reduce healthcare access for low-income Americans were often framed as fiscal responsibility but functioned as a wealth redistribution mechanism—redirecting funds from the most vulnerable to finance tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. This would be called “reverse Robinhood,” robbing from the poor to give to the rich. This choice underscores a moral calculus where the health of millions was weighed against the financial gain of a few.
State capture by unelected, monied (“oligarchical”) interests: Key term: State capture: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/opinion/elon-musk-donald-trump-government.html
(This New York Times opinion deserves serious study as a description of what is happening and how concerning it must be to all citizens.)

Punitive Policies as a Statement:

Some 240K Ukrainians, 70K Afgan translators and allies, and many more Central Americans fleeing persecution are reported by Reuters to be scheduled for fast track depuration in an extraordinary act of cruelty. Maybe we really are a national of authoritarian fascists [but I don’t believe it!], send the Statue of Liberty [“Give me your tired, your poor”] back to France? For example: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-plans-revoke-legal-status-ukrainians-who-fled-us-sources-say-2025-03-06/
Family Separation at the Border wasn’t just an immigration policy—it was a calculated deterrent. It may also have been a dress rehearsal. Officials openly admitted the cruelty was the point: to discourage others from coming.

Dehumanizing Rhetoric:

President T often used language that stripped humanity from groups he opposed—calling immigrants “animals” or labeling protestors as “thugs.” This wasn’t just inflammatory; it served to justify harsher policies by making certain groups seem less worthy of empathy.

Governance by Chaos:

President T’s leadership style thrived on disruption. Abrupt firings, public humiliation of officials, and pitting staff against each other created a culture of fear and loyalty tests, which trickled down through policymaking.
Economists are a contentious bunch and rarely agree on anything – they are unanimous that Tariffs are bad economics and policy. If you want to protect steel or defense or semiconductors, then give the industry a subsidy; do not enact a cruel (stealth) tax on consumers. Tariffs are a bad idea economically: Wall Street Journal March 6, 2025: “He’s [President T] treating the North American economy as a personal plaything, as markets gyrate with each presidential whim. It’s doubtful Mr. Trump even has the power to impose these tariffs, and we hope his afflatus gets a legal challenge.”

Empathy as Weakness:

Where some leaders try to balance power with compassion, President T often portrayed empathy as a flaw. Strength, in his view, was about domination—whether over political rivals, foreign adversaries, or marginalized groups.
Institutional Cruelty: Federal Workers and Medicaid Beneficiaries – wholesale dismissal of National Park workers, many [most] of whom are MAGA supporters?!

Federal Workforce Dismissals:

Beyond policy debates, the treatment of federal workers reflected a striking disregard for public servants. The administration often dismissed career experts with abrupt firings, public humiliation, and loyalty tests that prioritized allegiance over competence. This not only disrupted agencies but sent a chilling message to those committed to public service—that dedication could be met with contempt.

Historical Precedents:

At HHS and the CDC, the inmates are now in charge of the asylum. That staunch conservative Senator Mitch O’Connell voted against the cruel anti-vaccine lobby, RFK Jr, who seem to want children to get dreaded diseases such as measles and covid. While no modern administration matched Trump’s direct use of cruelty as a branding tool, there have been parallels:

Andrew Jackson’s Trail of Tears (1830s): A policy that led to mass Native American displacement and death, rooted in expansionist greed and blatant disregard for human life.
McCarthy Era (1950s): Though not a presidency, this period saw institutionalized fear and public persecution under the guise of rooting out communism.
Nixon’s “Law and Order” Stance (1970s): Framed as crime prevention but disproportionately targeted civil rights movements and marginalized communities. Nixon (like Musk and others) also tried to use the IRS to intimidate his opponents in the Senate and on the courts and in big business: that attempt ultimately did not go well (for Nixon).

The key difference with Trump is that he made cruelty part of the spectacle. As I get ready to send this email, Trump’s throwing the Ukraine “under the bus” and into the jaws of destruction is deeply disturbing – speak out against it!

This intentional use of cruelty as both policy and performance is what makes the Trump era stand out—and why it leaves such a lasting cultural and political scar.

As I go to publish this post and search for images, I learn that Kate Millet published a book with a similar title, The Politics of Cruelty (1994), which is about torture, extrajudicial killings (but see above regarding the violence against polio), and related totalitarian methods. Millet’s book is not the subject of my concern – so far!

I strongly caution against any vandalism against electric cars or infrastructure (or anything!) as it provides already authoritarian leaning officials a pretext to try to impose marshal law or similar anti-democratic measures. I strongly encourage peaceful protest (starting with letter writing) including a review of the writings of Martin Luther King, Ghandi, and H.D. Thoreau on civil disobedience. Barak Obama’s references to Saul Alinsky on Rules for Radicals (1971: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals) is also relevant.

If this entire matter makes a person anxious, that is not pathological or abnormal. It is anxiety inspiring. The treatment – at least one good treatment – is to take action to improve the situation. Write to your elected officials, donate to your favorite cause, volunteer in the community, pray or meditate (not the same), update your resume and advance your career. It may sound cynical but: If this whole country really goes “south” and the USA ends up like a third world dictatorship (improbably but not impossible), I want to be able to say I took action to make a difference and so should you!

Finally, keep in mind: the power of empathy should never be underestimated. Never. Empathy is powerful. However, empathy does not work with bullies. They take the good stuff you give them and use it against you. Therefore –

With bullies, empathy must set limits, establish boundaries, set the record straight, inspire better…, and push back. That may include thinking like the opponent – a kind of “top down” empathy. Take a walk in their shoes – not to agree but to overcome. Really being open to understanding what is going on “over there” with the opposition, as noted, not to agree with it, but to find a better way forward. (See also Micah Zenko, 2015, Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking Like the Enemy. an engaging account of war gaming in the military, business – and politics!)

Therefore, we call on you, the readers, to reach out to your elected officials including the US Senate and to speak truth to power and denounce the politics of cruelty. The current administration in Washington DC is not America. This is not who we are as a generous, welcoming, hardworking, innovative, courageous, speaking-truth-to-power people. Put the generosity and welcoming spirit of “America” back in USA.

Democracy is a group project!

References

Lou Agosta, 2024, Empathy Lessons, Second Edition, Chapter Ten: Empathy Application: Rhetorical empathy – speaking truth to power in politics. Chicago: Two Pears Press

Micah Zenko, 2015, Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking Like the Enemy. New York: Basic Books.

Alex Zonis. AlexZonisart.com

IMAGE 1904 Wikimedia Commons: SUMMARY: Political cartoon showing a Standard Oil tank as an octopus: The original image of the many tentacles wrapped around the steel, copper, and shipping industries, as well as a state house, the U.S. Capitol, and one tentacle reaching for the White House (admittedly unfair to octopuses!), referred in 1904 to Big Oil, Standard Oil in particular; and while the politics of hydrocarbons should not be dismissed, a more fitting beast for our own time (2025) would be a consortium of billionaires enacting State Capture. On background, in political science, governance by self-interested (and selfish) wealth is called “oligarchy.”