The cruelty is the point is a phrase coined by Adam Serwer in a 2018 essay in The Atlantic that has often been used to characterize the campaign and administration of US President Donald Trump, as well as the MAGA movement. The phrase has also been of use in discussions on immigration rights. Although the term is often applied to 21st-century populist movements, Serwer also argued that cruelty has often featured in human politics and relations.
Specific policies and actions cited in relation to the term include the travel ban for citizens of several Muslim-majority states, Trump administration family separation policy, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the January 6 insurrection, and the persecution of transgender people under the second Trump administration.
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