March 1 2017,
5:47 a.m.
During his Tuesday night
address to the U.S. Congress, President Trump paid tribute to Ryan Owens, the
Navy SEAL killed in the January commando raid in Yemen that Trump ordered. As
he did so, television cameras focused for almost four full minutes on Owens’s
grieving wife, Carryn, as she wept and applauded while sitting next to and
periodically being touched by Trump’s glamorous daughter Ivanka. The
entire chamber stood together in sustained applause, with Trump interjecting
scripted, lyrical expressions of support and gratitude for her husband’s
sacrifice.
It was, as intended, an obviously powerful TV
moment. Independent of the political intent behind it,
any well-functioning human being would feel great empathy watching a
grieving spouse mourning and struggling to cope emotionally with the recent,
sudden death of her partner. The majestic setting of the U.S. Congress,
solemnly presided over by the U.S. president, vested the moment with political
gravity.