A President Who Draws Borders - and a Country That Has to Watch Breathlessly

Hardly had the first details of the attack on two National Guardsmen in Washington become known when a race for interpretation began that says more about the political climate in this country than about the attacker himself. While investigators were still securing evidence, right wing circles used the incident to revive an old enemy image: the foreigner who supposedly threatens national security. And as so often in such moments, one man immediately stepped onto the stage - with words that suffocate any chance of calm at the very start: Donald Trump.

Shortly after the attack, Trump stepped in front of the cameras and said that every single foreigner from Afghanistan who entered under Biden must be reviewed again. He called for all necessary measures to deport people from any country who do not belong here or bring no benefit. Anyone who does not love America should not be allowed to stay. His words came at a moment when the country was still under the impression of the attack and investigators were examining the motives of the attacker. But instead of calming tones, Trump relied on division and a hard line that immediately triggered political reactions and deepened the split even further.

Immediately afterward, Stephen Miller spoke out and sharpened the line even more. He said the government would accelerate efforts to review every single person who entered the country in the last four years again - all 20 million. Anyone who is illegal should be removed automatically. And all others - refugees, people with asylum status, no matter under what circumstances they entered - would also be reviewed again. Anyone who does not love this country or bring any benefit would be sent out. It was a statement whose ruthlessness left little doubt about what this policy aims for: pressure, fear, and clear enemy images.

Later that evening, Trump again stepped in front of the media and claimed that the Department of Homeland Security was confident that the arrested attacker was a foreigner who came from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth. He said the man had arrived in September 2021 on one of those infamous flights of the Biden administration, flights from which no one knew who was actually on board. His status was later extended through legislation signed by Biden. These words were also not aimed at precision, but at the image of a country allegedly threatened by people who should never have been allowed to enter.

The timing of these statements was anything but coincidental. The country was still in shock, the images from Washington were running in a loop, and before it was even clear why a 29 year old Afghan had shot two soldiers, it was already obvious how the incident would be used politically. It is a familiar pattern: most attacks and mass shootings in the United States are committed by right wing extremists or native perpetrators. But as soon as a foreigner is involved, he becomes a symbol - especially if he comes from a predominantly Muslim country. The AfD in Germany has perfected this logic for years, and in the United States Trump follows it with the same calculation, only even larger, louder, and more ruthless.

Instead of explaining to the people in the country what is known and what is not, instead of taking into account an already heated atmosphere, Trump once again uses division as a political tool. His formulations do not serve to calm but to divide people into those who belong and those who do not. No voice of responsibility comes from the White House, but one that draws new borders before the facts are even on the table. And because Trump's words are never just words but political signals, they do not remain without consequences. The reactions came immediately. Civil rights organizations warned of a new wave of government harassment, legal experts questioned whether a review of 20 million people would even be constitutional, and many Americans long suspected what was really at stake: not security, but mobilization. Trump's sentences are a call to those who like to divide the world into a rigid we and they. That he reflexively falls back on this in such moments shows how much he needs escalation to maintain his political position.

The danger does not lie only in the plans but in the climate they create. While two severely injured National Guardsmen are in the hospital fighting for their lives, it is precisely those who have nothing to do with the crime who come under pressure: refugees, people with uncertain status, families who have lived here for years. For them, this political tone means more than a headline. It means fear. It means hoping every day not to be pushed into a category from which there is no escape. Trump's rhetoric is dangerous because it reduces people to characteristics they neither chose nor can change. It paints a picture of an America that does not open itself but seals itself off. It diverts attention from the real question: how could this attack happen? And what would have prevented it? The honest answer does not lie in the blanket condemnation of millions, but in thorough investigative work. But Trump only relies on thoroughness when it serves his purposes. In this case, it does not.

America now needs a voice that calms, explains, and contextualizes. Instead, it gets a president who stokes the flames - and an adviser who fans the fire even further. Right wing populism, a curse that spreads more and more in 2025, must be fought with endurance, facts, and clarity.