Principles For Sale
- Jerrad Christian
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Only Price Trump’s Ever Cut Is The Price Of American Values
-by Jerrad Christian
The State Department just took a scalpel to the U.S. government’s most respected annual human rights report— and cut out its spine. For decades, it was the most complete public record of abuses worldwide— blunt when it needed to be, even with allies. Now, it’s been hacked apart to fit the Trump administration’s politics.
Criticism of allies like Israel and El Salvador is gone or deeply watered down. Entire sections on government corruption, persecution of LGBTQ+ people, and gender-based violence have been deleted, while countries Trump wants to hammer, like Brazil (because they’re prosecuting one of his bffs) and South Africa (because Trump thinks ending the Apartheid is DEI), get rewritten entries that escalate the condemnation. This wasn’t about clarity or “readability” as the White House claims; it’s protecting friends and punishing enemies.
The new report even manages to frame major European democracies— UK, France, Germany— as slipping on human rights, mirroring Trump’s own talking points and the gripes of U.S. tech billionaires against European online safety laws (though I absolutely think some have gone too far, myself). The subtext is obvious: everything is reframed as attacks on free speech, while actual abuses get buried if they’re committed by the "right" people.
The omissions are screaming louder than the edits. In the section on Israel, the report acknowledges the war in Gaza "led to a rise in reports of human rights violations" but quickly pivots to praise "credible steps" taken to address them. It accuses Hamas and Hezbollah of war crimes and, conveniently, leaves out the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and a Hamas commander. El Salvador, slammed by Amnesty International for arbitrary detentions and inhumane prison conditions, gets a clean bill of health. The president there, Nayib Bukele, happens to be a Trump favorite, "one hell of a president." Bukele also happens to be willing to store Trump’s prisoners.
For what it’s worth (not much), the whitewash didn’t go unchallenged. Career diplomats fought the changes, delaying the release for months. But political appointees had marching orders: shorten the reports, remove sensitive references, and keep anything damaging to an ally off the page. The message is clear— if you’re willing to cut deals with Trump, your record is safe.
This report accuses the UK of “significant human rights issues,” including restricting freedom of expression, while also pointing out “inconsistent” punishment for abuses. Brazil is hit for “disproportionate action to undermine freedom of speech.” Both countries have pushed back on similar criticism before, but the timing and framing here are pure politics.
Trump telegraphed this months ago while in Saudi Arabia. He told the world the U.S. wouldn’t be “giving you lectures on how to live or govern your own affairs.” This report is the follow-through, as long as you kiss his ass. Now, what used to be an unflinching record of abuses is now a scoreboard where your treatment depends on how useful you are to the White House.
Seemingly, while human rights used to be a standard, now they’re a bargaining chip. If you’re still under the illusion that this is just “streamlining,” understand what’s been lost: the last credible, comprehensive public record of global abuses from a major democracy. And with it, Trump is selling off any pretense that the U.S. holds itself— or its ‘allies’— to the same rules it applies to others.
