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From the US midterms to the hard right in Britain, empathy has become a dirty word in politics | John Harris
The article argues that empathy and compassion are increasingly treated with suspicion by right-wing politicians and writers in the United States and Britain. It links that shift to a broader moral counter-revolution which presents toughness as a virtue and care for others as weakness.
The piece points to Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick adopting the phrase “suicidal empathy” while promoting a 25% cut in welfare spending by 2030, and to books popular among Maga supporters that criticise empathy. It cites polling in which 84% of registered Democrats, compared with 54% of Republicans, say empathy helps build a healthy society; among white evangelical Protestants, 42% call it a foundational moral value, while 54% say it can be dangerous. The supplied article text ends mid-sentence during its discussion of JD Vance.
In short
- Right-wing rhetoric is casting empathy as a political weakness.
- Jenrick used “suicidal empathy” to argue for welfare cuts.
- US polling shows a sharp partisan divide over empathy.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Empathy can help people recognise how policies affect those with less power, and it can support social trust and a willingness to protect vulnerable people. From this perspective, treating compassion as weakness risks making avoidable hardship seem acceptable and narrowing politics to toughness and self-interest.
The case against
Empathy is not always impartial: it can favour people whose stories feel familiar or emotionally vivid, while obscuring fairness, evidence and the needs of others. From this perspective, political leaders may need to weigh competing claims and set limits on public spending, and critics of empathy argue that compassion without such judgement can lead to harmful or unsustainable decisions.
Explained simply
Empathy means trying to understand what another person is feeling, while compassion can also mean wanting to help. In politics, arguments about these ideas often connect to debates over welfare, public services and how much responsibility society has for people in need.
In the United States, Maga is a political movement centred on Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. In Britain, Reform UK is a right-wing party; Robert Jenrick is a politician who has used the phrase “suicidal empathy” while arguing for welfare cuts.
The debate matters because views about empathy can shape how people judge policies and those who rely on support. Polling cited in the article suggests that attitudes differ between political groups and religious communities, though people within each group may hold varied views.
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