Donald Trump’s White House did something recently that should worry all of us. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, if you listen to pop music or country music. What they did crosses a basic line of human decency.
They took a video showing ICE agents forcefully arresting people. These are scenes where families are scared, where people don’t know if they’ll be taken away forever. Instead of treating this seriously, the White House added a happy pop song by Sabrina Carpenter on top of the video, like it was a fun advertising clip. Then they posted it online as if it was something to celebrate.
Sabrina Carpenter spoke up. She said it was disgusting and cruel to use her music to support a violent and heartless agenda. She told them to stop. And instead of responding with respect or explaining why they did it, the White House attacked her. They insulted immigrants in the most hateful ways they could think of and tried to make her look dumb for caring.
They didn’t try to explain the arrests. They didn’t show facts. They didn’t say why these actions were necessary or how they followed the law. They didn’t even talk about who these people were. They just threw out ugly words like “murderers” and “rapists” to make everyone in that video seem evil, even though many immigrants are just normal people with jobs, families, and dreams.
This isn’t politics anymore. This is a warning sign.
When a government uses videos like this to get laughs or applause, it stops seeing people as human. It turns real suffering into entertainment. It teaches the public not to ask questions — and not to care.
In a democracy, the government is supposed to answer to the people. It is supposed to act with fairness. It is supposed to respect the Constitution and the rights of every person, no matter where they were born. But when the government behaves like a reality show trying to go viral, cruelty starts to look normal. Violence starts to look exciting. Humiliation starts to look funny.
And then the most important questions disappear. People stop asking things like:
Is this legal?
Was anyone innocent?
Were children hurt?
Did anyone get a fair hearing?
Were rights respected?
Is this how a free country should treat people?
When something as serious as an ICE raid becomes a meme, those questions fade away.
Yes, there are real criminals in the world. Dangerous people should be held accountable under law. But that’s not what this video was about. The White House wanted everyone to assume that every person being arrested was a monster. They wanted viewers to stop caring about whether these were parents, teenagers, or workers who have never harmed anyone.
That is how leaders make cruelty easier. If the public believes the people being targeted are less than human, then anything done to them becomes acceptable. Abuse becomes a joke. The rule of law becomes something the government only cares about when it benefits their own side.
This is how authoritarian governments grow. First they pick a group to demonize. They portray that group as a threat. They convince the public that these people are dangerous. Then they expand the hate to more people — journalists, artists, teachers, political opponents, anyone who dares to disagree. The circle of targets keeps growing, and one day it includes ordinary citizens.
We’re seeing that pattern right now. Trump has made immigrants his main target, but he has also attacked news organizations, universities, celebrities, and even his own political allies when they don’t obey him. He insults, threatens, and encourages others to do the same. He wants people to be scared to speak out, to think twice before criticizing him.
The White House has even bragged about using music and art without permission, saying it’s funny to make artists angry, to “own the libs,” to start fights online. They want outrage because outrage gets attention. They want everyone fighting each other so we stop paying attention to what the government is actually doing.
They want the culture war to be the distraction — big enough to cover up real problems like the economy, corruption, and scandals involving powerful people. They want clicks and headlines more than truth and decency.
Meanwhile, ICE continues to have real power — guns, cells, detention centers, planes that tear families apart. Mistakes can ruin lives. People can disappear into the system with almost no way out. Some never come home.
When the government turns human fear into a punchline, democracy is at risk. When they celebrate pain as if it’s a sport, that’s how a country loses its moral compass.
If the people in power learn that videos like this help them win attention, they will do it again and again. And each time, they will go a little further. And each time, the public will feel a little less shocked. Until one day, cruelty feels normal and no one remembers how we got there.
We cannot let that happen.
We must refuse to engage with their propaganda on their terms. Don’t help them spread their clips. When you talk about these videos, focus on the real issue — the abuse of power — not celebrity drama.
We must demand oversight from our representatives. We must support the groups that fight for human rights and hold the government accountable. We must stay involved in elections, because the people we choose to run the justice system decide how far this cruelty will go.
And just like Sabrina Carpenter did, we must speak up — even if it’s uncomfortable, even if others try to mock us for caring. The moment we stop defending our shared humanity, we lose something precious that a country cannot afford to lose.
When a government celebrates the pain of vulnerable people, it is telling us that it no longer sees itself as a defender of all Americans. It only sees itself as a champion for one tribe — and the rest are enemies.
If we allow that attitude to spread, the United States will become unrecognizable.
This is the time to say no. Not tomorrow. Not later. Right now.
Not just to protect immigrants. Not just to protect artists. But to protect fairness, dignity, and the idea that every human life in this country deserves respect.
We must call. We must organize. We must vote. We must speak out.
Cruelty cannot become America’s language. If we care about what this country stands for, we have to act before that language becomes permanent.
