There are some photographs that provide more insight into a person and an era than a thousand words ever could. This is one of those photographs.

A man collapsed at a press conference in the Oval Office. Apparently, he is doing okay now. But in that moment we caught a glimpse of Donald Trump that encapsulates his entire persona. Indeed, it encapsulates his entire life.

While others meet the moment with the care and concern that most human beings engender, Trump stands there frozen in a pallid light. Looking disinterested and even annoyed that his moment in the spotlight was stolen from him by human frailty.

Of course, no one would expect the US President to administer first aid, but it isn’t about that. It is about the complete lack of care on his bloated face. A dearth of any kind of emotion we normally associate with caring human beings.

Trump is emblematic of many Americans whose compassion for one another has been eroded so much so, that it is now permanently buried in a tomb of apathy, disgust and sneer. We have seen this before. In the ones that held up signs demanding mass deportations, or who shrug their shoulders about the US supported genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza, or who are mocking SNAP beneficiaries for their plight right now. Their alienization from humanity has become their only identity.

This is not only a portrait of narcissistic detachment, it is a portrait of soulless, moral bankruptcy.

Kenn Orfanos, November 2025