History will look back at 2025 as the year of cruelty by the Republicans in power. Day after day has brought headlines of needlessly suffering by the country’s most vulnerable people so that politicians can score political points or put into policy their misguided, and often racist, views of the world.
It’s about time that we started tracking this cruelty so that yesterday’s sadistic act doesn’t get forgotten because of today’s evil.
With that mind, we are putting together the Republican Cruelty Index (RCI) so we can keep up with the onslaught of horrifying GOP actions as they happen. Below is our index for the most notable GOP actions so far this year.
- ICE roundups throughout the country. The immigration “crackdown” has brought daily images and videos of gestapo-like actions throughout the country by the Trump administration. We have seen parents assaulted by masked men and kidnapped in front of, and often along with, their children. Most of these victims have never been convicted of, or even arrested for, a crime. They are often working people, many of whom came here legally.
- Deportations to El Salvador’s notorious prison and countries where the deportees have no connection. The Trump administration is sending people who have never been to El Salvador, and who are not citizens of that country, to its notorious, inhumane prison. In addition, the Trump administration struck deals with countries in Africa, such as South Sudan, Ghana, and Rwanda, to take deportees, even though they are not citizens of those countries.
- Refusing to fund SNAP with available funds despite court orders to do so. During the government shutdown, the Trump administration had the opportunity and obligation to fund SNAP benefits so that over 40 million Americans, including 16 million children, could have access to a measly average of $6 a day in benefits. Trump refused to do so, preferring to let people starve instead.
- Deploying the National Guard, Marines, and ICE against peaceful protestors. When residents of Los Angeles and Portland engaged in the very American act of protest, the Trump administration responded with military-state tactics, sending a plethora of armed personnel without even the approval of the governors.
- Attempting to ban birthright citizenship. The GOP apparently despises immigrants so much that it wants to do away with the long-standing doctrine of birthright citizenship, which gives U.S. citizenship to those born in our country. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order banning it.
- Refusing to extend Obamacare credits. For many low-income Americans, the Affordable Care Act tax credits are vital to affordable healthcare. It can mean life and death. The GOP hates these credits so much that they shut down the government rather than extend them.
- Attacking DEI. The GOP assault on DEI is an attack on initiatives that address historical disparities, promote diverse perspectives, and allow organizations to attract and retain a wider range of talent. To Republicans, however, it’s just “wokeness.”
- Ending collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal workers. Trump took actions this year to strip many federal workers of their collective bargaining rights. It’s perhaps the most anti-union measure that we have witnessed in our lifetimes.
- Imposing reckless tariffs. The insanity of the Trump tariffs is that they are based on whatever the president is thinking at the moment, which isn’t much. These tariffs are not the result of years of meticulous economic research and modeling. No, they are the result of the whims of a 79-year-old who is acting more demented with each passing day. Millions of already struggling Americans are paying the price for these tariffs, literally, as they affect virtually every aspect of our consumer lives
- Pushing an anti-transgender agenda through executive orders. We are not sure where and when the transphobia movement started, but we know that the GOP is exploiting it to the fullest, preying on their constituents’ irrational fears. And Trump is leading the charge with his anti-transgender orders.