Lynchings in the United States peaked after the abolition of slavery. Photos of them still exist. When black American journalist Adam Serwer looked at them, it was not the burnt and mutilated bodies of the black victims that stuck with him, but the smiling faces of the white perpetrators.
These men were so proud of their atrocities that they posed for the photographer. Their cruelty made them feel happy, Serwer observed. And it brought them closer together.
Fast forward to the Trump era. Donald Trump’s election as president in 2016 unleashed a “whirlwind of cruelty”, according to Serwer. Children of undocumented migrants were separated from their parents and locked in cages. Trump encouraged police to mistreat detained suspects (read: black and Latino suspects, because Trump’s language is full of racist dog whistles). He ridiculed women who gathered the courage to break the silence on sexual abuse.
This cruelty is not a bug but a feature of Trumpian politics. Trump brings out the worst in people. (...)