For two years, protesters across college campuses and American cities demanded a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Then, when Trump and his team brought the Qatar-sponsored Hamas terror group and the war-hungry Netanyahu to the table to reach a ceasefire and end the devastating war, celebrations erupted across the Middle East, but not a word from some on the left.
(We’ll set aside, for now, the promises Trump made to secure that deal, like a Qatari airbase in Idaho).
When Trump got Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to sign a peace agreement, Rwandans and Congolese celebrated. Yet again, not a sound from America’s peace lovers. (We’ll also set aside the mineral deals he extracted for the U.S. to make that happen).
Still, why is it that when Trump ends devastating conflicts, the left can’t bring itself to celebrate?
I’ve never agreed with any president on everything. Over the years, I’ve easily articulated what I liked and disliked about Reagan, Clinton, Bush I and II, Obama, and Biden.
I’ve never had trouble giving credit where it’s due, regardless of political stripe.
But Trump presents a unique problem.
The bad he engages in is so extreme that it creates moral hesitation to be associated with anything he does, even when the outcome is good.
His efforts to harm the Black community are well-documented.
On day one, Trump abolished the entire federal DEI infrastructure, signing an executive order to “end” diversity, equity, and inclusion across the federal government. He terminated DEI offices, trainings, grants, and equity-based preferencing, and ordered agencies to unwind their equity plans immediately.
He reshaped the EEOC to scale back civil-rights enforcement. After removing commissioners he deemed too sympathetic to discrimination cases, Trump installed a new majority that has retreated from disparate-impact enforcement, weakening key tools that helped Black workers fight bias.
He targeted K-12 education under the banner of fighting “DEI ideology,” threatening school funding for those that didn’t comply. His January 29, 2025, executive order cut federal support for so-called “discriminatory equity ideology,” and pushed to dismantle the Department of Education’s civil-rights role, changes researchers warn will disproportionately harm Black students. Schools have already begun pulling back instruction on Black history, slavery, and systemic racism.
He encouraged new federal book-ban pressure, especially on military bases, prompting removal of books about Black soldiers and Black heroes. Civil-liberties groups sued over these bans, as the federal government became a new driver of book censorship in 2025, chilling Black history and authors alike.
He weakened equal-opportunity rules for federal contractors. A January 21, 2025 order reset long-standing obligations and seeks to repeal key equal-opportunity requirements that have protected minority workers for decades.
His policies have caused the worst job losses for Black women in decades. Over 300,000 jobs destroyed in just the first six months of 2025. Not a coincidence.
He’s also advanced voter-roll and election policies that voting-rights experts say will disenfranchise Black voters. His Department of Justice has sued states to obtain voter lists and pursued measures that facilitate voter purges, disproportionately affecting communities of color.
He’s so obsessed with Black people that he’s literally made sure production of the Harriett Tubman $20 bill wouldn’t happen under his watch.
Let’s be real: Trump has been infatuated with undoing progress for Black Americans since taking office. He’s made it a cornerstone of his administration to silence discussions of our nation’s traumatic racial history and the ongoing inequalities it produced.
If it walks like a duck…
And it doesn’t stop with Black Americans.
His ICE campaign has been equally disastrous. Of course, we all want undocumented violent criminals removed from the country. But his policy goes far beyond that. Trump’s ICE has arrested Latino pastors, teachers, farm workers, and restaurant dishwashers, often in front of their children. Even longtime supporters like Joe Rogan have condemned it as inhumane.
It’s also telling that Trump has never targeted undocumented Russians or other Eastern Europeans, and he’s granted asylum to white South Africans while denying it to people fleeing death threats in Latin America.
Let’s not distort things. The disdain for Trump isn’t about his tariffs, his decimation of the American farmer, his damage to the auto industry, the government shutdown, or his tax cuts for the ultra-rich.
Those are policy disagreements. Reasons to call him a bad president. But they’re not why people choke on the words “good job” when he negotiates peace.
It runs far deeper.
It’s because it’s morally hard to praise a man so obsessed with assaulting the already marginalized.
There are obviously some people who are against the ceasefire because they want Israel off the map and it was never about ending war.
But for the rest of us peace loving people, of course we should celebrate the release of Israeli hostages. Of course we should rejoice at the end of devastation for Palestinians in Gaza. And if Trump helps end the war in Ukraine, we’ll all breathe easier.
But no peace agreement. No diplomatic triumph. Nothing can trump (pun intended) the profound harm he’s inflicting on our Black and Brown brothers and sisters.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of Jeffrey Kass' work on Medium.