🎯 Target the Vulnerable: Trump’s Politics of Displacement.

By Ian Kydd Miller : Photographer, writer, and advocate for ethical witnessing

Framing the Frame

In photography, framing is everything. It decides who is seen, who is centred, and who is cropped out. In politics, the same principle applies. And in Donald Trump’s latest moves, we see a deliberate framing of the vulnerable—not as people in need, but as threats to be removed.

In August 2025, Trump announced a federal takeover of Washington, D.C.’s police force and deployed the National Guard. His justification? A city “overrun” by “violent gangs,” “drugged-out maniacs,” and “homeless people.” The language wasn’t just inflammatory—it was strategic. It cast the most marginalised as enemies of the state.

But the data tells a different story. Violent crime in D.C. is at its lowest level in 30 years. What’s rising is fear, stoked by rhetoric designed to justify displacement.

Who Gets Targeted

🏚 The Unhoused

Trump’s plan includes forcibly removing homeless individuals from public spaces. No mention of housing, support, or dignity—just removal. These are people already living at the edge of visibility. Now they’re being pushed further out, framed not as citizens but as contaminants.

“Only thing we ask for is a fair job and fair housing. We can’t get that.” — Will, a homeless resident of D.C.

🧠 The Mentally Ill and Addicted

Mental illness and addiction are treated not as health issues but as criminal liabilities. Trump’s language—“maniacs,” “drugged-out”—dehumanises those who need care, not containment.

👦 Black Youth

Young people, especially Black youth riding motorcycles or gathering in public, are described as “roving mobs.” It’s a familiar tactic: racialised fear used to justify a militarised response. The spectacle of control replaces the substance of justice.

A Broader Pattern

This isn’t isolated. Trump’s broader agenda reveals a consistent targeting of the vulnerable:

• Dismantling federal agencies like the Department of Education and Social Security, harming seniors, disabled people, and rural communities.

• Rolling back environmental protections, increasing pollution in low-income neighbourhoods.

• Attacking civil rights offices, threatening protections for women, LGBTQ+ people, and people of colour.

Each move shifts the burden downward—from the powerful to the powerless.

The Ethics of Witnessing

As a photographer and writer, I believe in presence. In seeing what others overlook. In framing with care. Trump’s politics demand the opposite: a lens that distorts, a frame that excludes, a narrative that punishes the inconvenient.

But we can choose a different frame.

We can document with empathy. We can write with clarity. We can stand with those who are displaced—not because they are dangerous, but because they are vulnerable. And because vulnerability, in a just society, should invite protection—not persecution.

Final Thought

Targeting the vulnerable is not a strength. It’s a failure of imagination, of compassion, of leadership. But it’s also a call to action—for artists, writers, and witnesses.

Let’s refuse the politics of erasure. Let’s make the invisible visible. And let’s remember: the frame we choose shapes the story we tell.