Repression for Thee, Order for Me

Trump thundering at Tehran for crushing civil protest is one of those moments when satire quietly excuses itself and leaves the room. Here is a man who urged police to be “rough”, who talked openly about dominating demonstrators, who had peaceful crowds cleared so he could stage a photograph, now discovering a sudden, tender concern for the rights of protesters. The vocabulary is familiar. The values are not.

Authoritarians are not offended by repression. They are offended by competition. Protest at home is disorder, disloyalty, an excuse for force. Protest abroad is tyranny, a talking point, something to be condemned loudly while the cameras are on. The principle never changes. Only the postcode does. The boot is acceptable. It is just a question of whose foot it is and where it lands.

There is also the small matter of what is happening closer to home. Federal immigration enforcement killing civilians on American streets tends not to feature in these sermons on restraint. No thunderous speeches there. No anguished talk of civil liberties. Just silence, justification, and a brisk change of subject. Apparently the right to protest has an asterisk when the wrong people are involved.

None of this is a defence of Tehran. Repression is vile wherever it happens, whether justified by theology, national security, or the usual muttering about order. But moral authority is not something you can hire for an afternoon and return before supper. It is built slowly, by accepting limits on power, by tolerating dissent, and by understanding that losing an argument does not entitle you to crush the person making it.

The irony, of course, is that perhaps Trump should go into Iran. Not as a liberator or a statesman, but as a familiar type. He could stand there and explain why cracking down on protest is an unforgivable outrage in Tehran but a regrettable necessity in Minneapolis. He could outline the sanctity of peaceful assembly while carefully stepping around the bodies that complicate the story. It would be an impressive display of elastic principle.

If he did, the locals might recognise him instantly. They have spent decades living under leaders who denounce repression abroad while perfecting it at home. They would know the routine. Different flag. Same instinct.