In the U.S., when children are massacred in their classrooms, politicians offer the same empty script: thoughts and prayers. Calls for action are dismissed as politicizing tragedy, while grieving families endure skepticism, conspiracy theories, and even harassment.
Yet, when it comes to those who oppose Donald Trump or challenge the ultra-wealthy, the response is not sympathy but condemnation, threats, and accusations of treason.
The latest example? Trump recently declared that individuals who vandalize Teslas in protest of Elon Musk are “domestic terrorists.”
Think about that. Damaging a car is now terrorism. Meanwhile, school shooters who slaughter children are framed as troubled loners or victims of a broken system.
In Trump’s America, a dented fender is a crisis. A murdered child is an afterthought.
Selective Outrage, Selective Justice
This is not new. When Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, attacking police officers, they were called patriots. Meanwhile, election officials who upheld democracy were labeled traitors and subjected to death threats. Judges and jurors overseeing Trump’s legal troubles require security, while Trump spreads lies about them.
Now, this logic extends to property. Those who damage a billionaire’s car? Terrorists. Those who fire AR-15s in elementary schools? Just the price of freedom.
If Americans showed as much outrage over school shootings as they do over a scratched Tesla, we might have solved this crisis long ago. Instead, some members of Congress wear AR-15 lapel pins while the parents of dead children are told to move on.
The Priorities Are Clear
What does it say about our country when property destruction provokes more fury than mass murder? The answer is stark: In today’s political landscape, corporations and billionaires matter more than children.
It’s time to reject this upside-down value system. True threats come not from those protesting billionaires but from those who defend objects over lives.
No child’s life should be worth less than a luxury car. No family should have to fight harder for justice than a billionaire. And no politician should get away with pretending otherwise.
This insanity is not just owned by the president, but by many republicans, and way too many of our fellow citizens. Wondering when, and how, this will start to go in the other direction. It says little about who we have become.