‘I Suffer for the Country’

President Donald Trump has once again taken an event honoring the families of dead Americans and made it about himself. During a Monday morning address at an event honoring “Angel Families” — a right-wing term for the families of Americans killed by undocumented migrants — the president complained that he “suffers” for the country, after going on an extended rant about his fantasy that the 2020 election was stolen from him. 

“A Democrat [voter] will get three, four, five, six, and even seven ballots and then we’re supposed to win. That’s what they’re good at — they’re professional cheaters,” Trump complained to guests gathered at the White House. “I’m just thinking as we’re going through it, because we’ve suffered through it together. I suffer for the country.” 

It’s not the first time Trump has  failed to show basic empathy by making the death of others about himself. During a 2018 event for “Angel Families,” Trump signed pictures of the deceased. In 2024, Trump blamed Gold Star families for the outcry surrounding allegations that he conducted campaign activities at Arlington Cemetery, in violation of the burial ground’s policies. Just this  month, the president used the death of the Reverend Jesse Jackson as a springboard to congratulate himself on the inroads he’s made with Black voters, and to attack Barack Obama and other Democrats. 

The event on Monday was dominated by long, rambling tangents from Trump about his electoral complaints. It bears repeating that dozens of federal and state-level election probes have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 elections, and that illegal voting in non-citizens in federal elections remains exceedingly rare. 

Throughout the speech, Trump complained about “fake polls” that showed a decline in his popularity. “It just amazes me that there is not more support out there,” he told the grieving families. “We actually have a silent support. 

“If that election wasn’t rigged, every single one of the people in this room right now would not be here,” Trump said, absurdly, asserting that the only reason the families present had lost their loved ones was because he had been denied his second term in 2020. (Several of the families present had suffered their losses years before Trump even entered politics.) 

At the event, Trump declared February 22 as National Angel Family Day, as described by the White House “a day of remembrance for victims and their grieving loved ones devastated by the consequences of open border policies.”