# From the US midterms to the hard right in Britain, empathy has become a dirty word in politics | John Harris

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/from-the-us-midterms-to-the-hard-right-in-britain-empathy-has-become-a-dirty-word-in-politics-john-harris/
- Published: 2026-11-03T08:00:42+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-03T23:08:07+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/nov/03/us-midterms-hard-right-britain-empathy-politics
- Topics: Americas, Elections, Politics, UK, World

## Key points

- 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.

## Summary

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.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.