For the big hypocrite Donald Trump, there are two kinds of protesters

For the big hypocrite Donald Trump, there are two kinds of protesters
  • Sumo

Donald Trump has discovered a sudden, passionate love for protesters.

Specifically, Iranian protesters.

In recent days, the president has floated the idea of U.S. military intervention to “rescue” demonstrators facing repression abroad. He’s warned Iran not to harm them. He’s promised America is “locked and loaded.” He has cast himself as the muscular guardian of free expression — the patron saint of the First Amendment, now apparently available for international export.

How noble. How stirring.

How… completely inconsistent with everything he’s done at home.

Because while Trump is threatening airstrikes to protect protesters in Tehran, his administration has spent the last week treating protesters in Minneapolis like enemy combatants.

There, demonstrators outraged over aggressive immigration raids took to the streets. Federal agents responded with force. One protester — Renee Nicole Good, a poet and mother of three with stuffed animals in her glove compartment — was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross for no good reason. She wasn’t a threat. But before facts were established, the White House rushed to brand her a “domestic terrorist.” Evidence? Thin. Rage? Ample.

When asked about videos showing federal agents shoving and confronting peaceful protesters, Trump didn’t express concern for civil liberties. He expressed sympathy — for ICE. “Well, I think ICE has been treated very badly,” he said.

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So in review… Protesters in Iran: Heroes. Brave. Worth U.S. military protection. Protesters in Minnesota: Suspects. Threats. Possibly terrorists. Shoot first, ask questions later.

Same act. Same principle. Different political target. Different verdict.

This is not new.

ICE agents have sprayed people dressed as frogs and the giraffe guy with chemicals. They have dragged people, U.S. citizens, out of their cars. They have Shopointed long guns at civilians.

When millions of Americans marched in “No Kings” protests against Trump last year — overwhelmingly peaceful, massive, patriotic displays of civic participation — Trump and his allies preemptively labeled them antifa radicals, terrorist sympathizers, even insurrectionists. Federal crackdowns were floated. Free speech protections were questioned. Troops were deployed. Judges, including Republican ones, later ruled those deployments unjustified.

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Earlier this year, Trump called some protests “illegal,” suggested deporting legal immigrants for expressing pro-Palestinian views, advocated criminalizing flag burning, and mused that criticizing judges should be against the law — a fascinating proposal from a man who insults judges as a hobby.

During his first term, his own defense secretary said Trump asked whether protesters could be shot in the legs. In 2020, amid racial justice demonstrations, Trump amplified a supporter declaring, “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”

But now — now — he is outraged by the idea of a foreign regime harming protesters. It would be more convincing if he hadn’t spent decades telling us exactly how he feels about dissent.

In 1990, Trump praised China’s violent crackdown in Tiananmen Square. Not condemned it. Celebrated it.

“They were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength,” he said. “That shows you the power of strength.”

In 2017, asked about Vladimir Putin killing political opponents, Trump replied: “You think our country’s so innocent?”

This is not a man guided by a deep, consistent reverence for civil liberties. This is a man who admires power — and prefers protests only when they serve his interests.

Which brings us back to Iran.

Is Trump suddenly a First Amendment evangelist? A global defender of free assembly? A believer in the sacred right to dissent?

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Or is this simply another opportunity to posture as strong, threaten force, and pick a foreign enemy — while quietly eroding those same freedoms at home?

Because it’s hard to sell yourself as the savior of protesters abroad while criminalizing, deporting, or gassing them at home. In the rest of the world, they call that hypocrisy.

In Washington, they call it Tuesday.

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