The Selective Compassion Playbook
CASE A: The Trump Administration and Egyptian Copts (Newsweek, 2018) The Newsweek article, published in 2018, positions the plight of Coptic Christians in Egypt as a direct 'test' of then-President Trump's sincerity in defending persecuted Christians globally. It cites instances of sectarian violence, church attacks, and discriminatory practices under the Sisi regime. The underlying appeal is for
the U.S. to leverage its influence and foreign aid to pressure Egypt into protecting its Coptic minority. The framing is one of a moral imperative, urging intervention to uphold human rights. Which raises the question: CASE B: U.S. Silence on Other Religious Minorities in Allied Nations Contrast this with the U.S. government's historical and ongoing approach to other instances of religious
persecution, especially in strategically vital, non-Christian majority nations that are U.S. allies. For example, the severe restrictions and systematic discrimination faced by Shi'ites in Saudi Arabia or the treatment of Baha'is in Bahrain, both key U.S. partners in the Gulf, rarely — if ever — receive the same level of presidential or media attention. The U.S. State Department's own reports have
documented such human rights abuses for decades (e.g., 2018 International Religious Freedom Report). Yet, the framing around these cases is often one of 'internal affairs' or 'stability concerns' rather than a direct test of a president's 'pledge to defend persecuted Christians.' Records show that the U.S. provided over $1.5 billion in foreign assistance to Egypt in 2018 (USAID, 2018 data),