Sign Up Account Profile Log Out

Newsletters Morning Report 12:30 Report Evening Report Business Defense Health Care Technology Newsletter Energy & Environment Whole Hog Politics The Gavel The Movement

Technology Newsletter

NEWS Senate House Administration Courts Future America Media Campaign News Education In The Know Latino LGBTQ DC News Race & Politics State Watch Print Edition People in the News

POLICY Defense Health Care Energy & Environment Technology Transportation International Cybersecurity National Security Space Sustainability

BUSINESS Budget Taxes Personal Finance Lobbying

OPINION Columnists Congress Blog All Contributors Opinions – Campaign Opinions – Civil Rights Opinions – Criminal Justice Opinions – Cybersecurity Opinions – Education Opinions – Energy and Environment Opinions – Finance Opinions – Healthcare Opinions – Immigration Opinions – International Opinions – Judiciary Opinions – National Security Opinions – Technology Opinions – White House Submit Opinion Content

All Contributors Opinions – Campaign Opinions – Civil Rights Opinions – Criminal Justice Opinions – Cybersecurity Opinions – Education Opinions – Energy and Environment Opinions – Finance Opinions – Healthcare Opinions – Immigration Opinions – International Opinions – Judiciary Opinions – National Security Opinions – Technology Opinions – White House

Opinions – Civil Rights

Opinions – Criminal Justice

Opinions – Cybersecurity

Opinions – Energy and Environment

Opinions – Healthcare

Opinions – Immigration

Opinions – International

Opinions – National Security

Opinions – Technology

Opinions – White House

Submit Opinion Content

EVENTS Upcoming Events About

Sign Up Account Profile Log Out

Live updates: DHS shutdown

Content from Google Cloud

Abbott urges Texans to ‘stay alert’ amid chaos between US, Mexican drug cartels State Watch | 1 minute ago

Opinion After Trump, the US needs a Truth and Reconciliation Commission Opinions - White House | 1 minute ago

Appeals court sides with Louisiana on Ten Commandments in schools Education | 6 minutes ago

Anthropic CEO to meet Hegseth amid dispute over military use of Claude Defense | 12 minutes ago

Greenland PM says thanks but no thanks to Trump hospital ship offer Health Care | 14 minutes ago

68 percent say Trump focused on wrong problems: Poll Campaign | 29 minutes ago

Opinion For Trump, corporate profits are more important than American lives  Opinions - Energy and Environment | 31 minutes ago

Hegseth says he’ll order random pizzas to throw off monitoring app Defense | 34 minutes ago

After Trump, the US needs a Truth and Reconciliation Commission

At noon on Jan. 20, 2029, President Trump’s second term will end. And when that final curtain call comes, Americans should reflect.  

In his book, “History Matters,” David McCullough wrote: “History teaches, reinforces what we believe in, what we stand for, and what we ought to be willing to stand up for.” McCullough added that knowing our history is “the bedrock of patriotism.”  

Without a complete record of the Trump years, history will be written by those empowered by Trump. The congressional investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, provides a powerful example of accurately documenting important events. Despite Trump’s numerous attempts to rewrite the history of that tragic day, his warped version of reality was contradicted by the testimony of those who were there.

Trump is a gifted performer who invites his followers to suspend their disbelief and enter a world where “alternative facts” provide a comforting reality. But the graphic shootings of Reneé Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota offer nothing but discomfort. 

A Quinnipiac poll finds that 61 percent believe the Trump administration has not provided a truthful account of Pretti’s killing, and 80 percent believe there should be an independent investigation. The same survey finds 47 percent acknowledging they know someone who is living in fear of being deported. 

The shootings of Good and Pretti are not the only disturbing images to flicker on our television screens. The picture of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, with his Spider Man backpack and his blue bunny ears hat, held by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, went viral on social media. Time magazine wrote, “The power of these posts came from their terrifying precision: that this child could be anyone’s.”

Little Liam’s horrific story is not the only one. Today, other children remain behind bars where there is reportedly food laced with worms, an ongoing lack of medical care and even an outbreak of measles. The federal judge who ordered Liam’s release from a Texas facility wrote that his detention “has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.” One child at Liam’s kindergarten wrote to ICE: “You are scaring schools, people, and the world.” Another said, “I think you should make friends with the world.” 

The wisdom contained in the words of that last child requires an overt act of reconciliation. South Africa provides a model. In 1995, Nelson Mandela’s government created a Truth and Reconciliation Commission led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It took testimony from 21,000 victims who testified 38,000 gross violations of human rights, 10,000 of which were killings.  

When asked why the commission was important, Tutu responded, “If you can find it in yourself to forgive, then you are no longer chained to the perpetrator.”  

Today, the U.S. is holding more than 70,000 immigrants, including children, in 224 facilities scattered across the U.S. with plans to build more. The Trump administration has repeatedly blocked members of Congress from seeing what is happening inside those detention facilities.  

Other migrants have been sent overseas, including to the dreaded CECOT prison in El Salvador, a country run by Nayib Bukele, the self-described “world’s coolest dictator.” One deportee subjected to daily beatings there was allegedly told by the prison director, “You have arrived in hell.”

The need for our own Truth and Reconciliation Commission is urgent, given the lack of information and the promulgation of false AI-created images that can distort reality. After Good’s shooting, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) displayed an obviously fake AI image of her killing on the Senate floor, featuring a headless ICE officer. Similarly, the White House posted an image of the wrong person, labeling him as an undocumented immigrant accused of sex-crimes against children. That wrong image was viewed on X 257,000 times before it was deleted.

Addressing the graduates of Yale University in 1962, John F. Kennedy said: “The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived, and dishonest — but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.” He continued by saying that we “hold fast to the cliches of our forebears,” “subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations” and “enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” 

Human beings are creatures of comfort. But to set history right, we need a period of discomfort. Only when that happens will we be liberated from the lies and silence of the past. And only then can love and forgiveness take root. 

John Kenneth White is a professor emeritus at The Catholic University of America. His latest book is titled “Grand Old Unraveling: The Republican Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Authoritarianism.”

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

More Opinions - White House News

Democratic leaders scrambling to prevent repeat of last year’s rowdy State of ...

Texas GOP Senate candidate: ‘It’s time for the next generation of American ...

Republicans eye opening for DHS deal this week as Democrats double down

Patel responds to Olympics backlash, says he was invited to locker room after ...

US trade rep: Trump administration ‘found ways to really reconstruct’ its ...

Cannon blocks release of Smith’s report on Mar-a-Lago documents case

US Embassy tells Americans to shelter in place after Mexican army kills cartel ...

Patel sparks outrage partying with Team USA as MAGA cheers him on

Trump predicts Supreme Court will rule against him on birthright citizenship ...

Gov. Sanders on tariffs: Fastest way to get Trump to act is ‘tell him that he ...

House Democrats announce first group of ‘Red to Blue’ candidates

DHS reverses on TSA PreCheck amid shutdown; Global Entry suspended

Republicans see political gold in Mamdani property tax proposal

Hegseth says he’ll order random pizzas to throw off monitoring app

Kennedy doubles down on defense of Trump glyphosate order amid MAHA backlash

Bacon signals Trump’s new tariff order ‘will be defeated’ by Congress

The State of the Union is dire: What Trump won’t say at his address

Trump calls for Netflix to fire Susan Rice after she warned corporations for ...

The Hill Podcasts – Morning Report

2024 Election Results

2024 Election Forecast

Regulation - Administration

Energy & Environment Video Clips

Health Care Video Clips

Technology Video Clips

Transportation Video Clips

International Video Clips

Cybersecurity Video Clips

National Security Video Clips

Contributors to The Hill

Submit Opinion Content

PRIVACY POLICY 09/30/2025

Advertise with Nexstar

Journalistic Integrity

THE HILL 400 N CAPITOL STREET NW, SUITE 650 WASHINGTON DC 20002

© 1998 - 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved.

Provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Sign in to create a free account. No password needed.

By clicking on any of the sign up options below, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use, which includes a jury trial waiver and class action waiver, and that you have read our Privacy Policy detailing our collection, use and sharing of your personal information.

By clicking on any of the sign up options below, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use, which includes a jury trial waiver and class action waiver, and that you have read our Privacy Policy detailing our collection, use and sharing of your personal information.

The Hill is provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and uses the My Nexstar sign-in, which works across our media network.

Learn more at nexstar.tv/privacy-policy.

The Hill is provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and uses the My Nexstar sign-in, which works across our media network.

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is a leading, diversified media company that produces and distributes engaging local and national news, sports, and entertainment content across its television and digital platforms. The My Nexstar sign-in works across the Nexstar network—including The CW, NewsNation, The Hill, and more. Learn more at nexstar.tv/privacy-policy.

Provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Check your email inbox

Provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Thanks for registering!

Provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Are you sure you want to log out?

© The Hill