As a New York City resident, I don’t really have any good governments at the moment. Federally I’m being governed by mendacious and grubbing hogmen, statewide I’m being represented by uninspired and fiddling centrists, and at the local city-level, I’m watching my corrupt, cop mayor flail, only surfacing to yell at journalists and flash corny hand hearts.
To borrow a phrase I grew up hearing: I’m ripshit mad.
Out of everything that’s happened in the past month, there’s one executive order from January that I can’t get out of my head: “Restoring The Death Penalty And Protecting Public Safety”. It’s a bear hug embrace of capital punishment, which isn’t particularly surprising from a group of people obsessed with cruelty, mockery, and vicious displays of power.
But within this death penalty order there’s a more targeted command for vengeance. Before leaving office, President Biden commuted the death penalties of 37 people on death row. Not satisfied to simply re-emphasize state killing of prisoners, Trump has gone a step further and gone after these commuted men and women. The Order commands the Attorney General “to evaluate the places of imprisonment and conditions of confinement” for these 37 prisoners and to “take all lawful and appropriate action to ensure that these offenders are imprisoned in conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes and the threats they pose.”
In no uncertain terms, this is seeking vengeance on the previous administration by inflicting pain on state captives. Using executive power to heighten the punishment for those who are in jail for life is atrociously savage and as close to a thesis statement for this regime as I’ve seen: at every turn be merciless, unrestrained, and uncivil.
There’s no reconciliation with this sort of calculated barbarity. There’s no care here, despite it being a word I hear a lot from Trump fans. Specifically I hear many uses of the phrase “take care,” which is used to convey tenderness — “Trump will protect me and ensure my welfare” — as well as brutality — “Trump will punish those contemptible others who deserve it.”
The recipients of each form of this split “care” are obvious to the Trump faithful, which is indicative of something Jamelle Bouie has being saying repeatedly: these people are segregationists. They are turning back the clock and seeking to reimpose “the worst hierarchies our society has produced.” To the adherents of this retrograde project of social engineering, it’s clear who needs taking care of. Both the kind and cruel usages can coexist without fear that they will ever become entangled: Trump “taking care of my family” will never mean receiving the boot of the state, just as Trump “taking care of prisoners” will never mean extending kindness or a chance for redemption.
Trump and his lackeys see in color. Trump rose to political prominence on lies about the birthplace of our first Black president and who spent the end of his 2024 campaign vilifying Haitians. And of course, a majority of the 37 prisoners that Trump is commanding the A.G. to take care of are non-white.
These years will be a test of our caring, and our ability to act in community and solidarity with others. I hope we’re able to see the humanity in the incarcerated victims of this administration, despite their crimes and failures, especially now that they’re in the cruel and unusual crosshairs of the most powerful lawyer in our country.
