“I hurt you because I love you.”
Trump’s concept of love is the same as any abuser’s.
In the Univision town hall last night, Trump offered a new ideology test for immigrants: “They have to love our country. They have to love you, love our people.”
Earlier that evening, I was with a friend who came to the U.S. from Mauritania in 2023. As we drove to T-Mobile to pick up his new iPhone, we talked about the yard signs and Halloween decorations on every other Cleveland Heights lawn. I was trying to explain why we put spiders, pumpkins, ghosts, and witches on our lawn. “It’s about dead people,” I said. “But it’s supposed to be fun. You give the kids candy.”
We talked about the political signs, connecting them to the Mauritanian presidential elections because that’s something Black Mauritanians intrinsically understand. It’s a time when the government pretends their voices matter, but systematically undermines their right to vote.
“I see ‘Harris’ signs everywhere,” he said. “I like her. But Trump, he hates me. I love this country, and he hates me. I don’t know why.”
I don’t think he’d be impressed that Trump offered a “love” test to immigrants in last night’s town hall. He knows as well as I do that it was all a lie. Or maybe Trump just has a different concept of “love.”
At the Univision town hall Trump also said the violent and deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol, on January 6, 2021, was a “day of love.” I doubt the family of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick see it that way, much less the loved ones of the officers who died by suicide in the days and months after the catastrophic event.
“The acute, precipitating event that caused the death of Officer [Jeffrey] Smith was his occupational exposure to the traumatic events he suffered on January 6, 2021,” wrote Jonathan L. Arden, the former chief medical examiner of the District of Columbia.
Love doesn’t cause trauma. Abuse is not protection, or love. “No one has the right to hurt you, control you, or make you feel afraid — even if they say they do it because they love you,” wrote Nicole Greene, when she was Deputy Director of the Office on Women’s Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
We know Trump doesn’t actually care whether immigrants “love” America. If he did, he’d know they do. His remark was just another tactic to manipulate voters.
Hours before the Univision town hall aired, Trump appeared at a Fox News town hall before a curated crowd of female Trump supporters — and even their remarks were edited. The Georgia Federation of Republican Women “cohosted” the event, but it had been billed by Fox as simply “an audience entirely composed of women.” The Georgia group quickly changed their Facebook post after CNN made an inquiry.
Trump showed his true colors during the Fox News town hall, calling U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) “a young… fantastically attractive person” and himself “the father of IVF.” In his story, Britt had called him because an Alabama judge was threatening to close in vitro fertilization clinics. He asked her to explain IVF to him, and bragged that it only took him “about two minutes” to understand. “No, no. We’re totally in favor of IVF,” he recalled saying to the “young” and “fantastically attractive” U.S. Senator, pledging to save the clinics.
I think Trump thought this was a hero story. I think he thought women would appreciate the fact that he called Senator Britt “attractive.” Some in the audience undoubtedly did.
But for the rest of us, we’re left wondering why Senator Britt’s physical appearance had anything to bear on the conversation, and why Trump needed “about two minutes” to be educated on IVF. This is a man who served as the U.S. President once already, and wants to do it again.
Trump is unqualified to lead this country for many reasons. His warped view of “love,” women, and immigrants, and his ignorance of basic concepts of public policy and health, are just two.
I’m Lynn Tramonte, a communications strategist and nonprofit director — progressive values with midwestern roots. Follow me on Medium, Threads, and Bluesky. #antiracism #abolition #dignity #love #liberation
This is a personal essay and not connected to any organization or company.
