Why Armenians Still Worship Trump—And Why They Shouldn’t

 

A wake-up call to Armenians who still cheer the man whose policies
armed our enemies and silenced our suffering

By Vic Gerami

When I first began tracing how Washington’s decisions rippled across the South Caucasus, the documents pointed to a consistent pattern: waivers, silence, and political calculations that left Armenia and Artsakh exposed. The 2020 Artsakh genocide did not occur in a vacuum. It unfolded in an environment shaped by U.S. policy choices made during the Trump administration. Taken together, those choices strengthened Baku, emboldened Ankara, and undermined congressional efforts to confront genocide denial.

For many Armenians, the Trump years are remembered as a time of economic growth, patriotic slogans, and conservative appeal. Yet beneath the surface, his administration’s record toward Armenia and Armenians was one of neglect, harm, and complicity. What makes this particularly tragic is that a large portion of the Armenian-American community refuses to see it. Some continue to idolize him, blind to how his policies directly enabled Azerbaijan’s aggression and how his domestic decisions signaled disregard for Armenian Americans themselves.

This is not a partisan argument. It is a matter of truth and accountability. We cannot claim to stand for justice, survival, and truth while cheering for the man who weakened Armenia, empowered its enemies, and erased our suffering from the record.

Section 907: The First Warning Ignored

In 1992 Congress adopted Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, forbidding direct U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan until it ended blockades and hostilities against Armenia. The law stood as a rare recognition that security in the Caucasus depended on restraint.

Between 2018 and 2019, the State Department under Secretary Mike Pompeo repeatedly waived Section 907. Federal records show that these waivers permitted tens of millions of dollars in security assistance, training, and border-surveillance technology for Azerbaijan. Officials justified the move as counter-terrorism cooperation, but analysts at the Carnegie Endowment and the Congressional Research Service warned that the aid “altered the regional balance” and “could enable offensive operations.” Within months, Azerbaijan’s military spending and Turkish joint exercises surged.

That was not just bureaucratic procedure. It was a strategic green light. The administration’s disregard for Congress’s intent allowed Baku to strengthen its military infrastructure in preparation for the atrocities that would follow in 2020.

Silence During Catastrophe

When the assault on Artsakh began in late 2020, more than fifty members of Congress from both parties called on the White House to intervene or at least condemn the aggression. The administration issued no formal statement. Internal correspondence later released through the State Department’s FOIA process shows that diplomats were instructed to refer all questions to the National Security Council, which never commented publicly.

Turkey’s involvement, through its drones, officers, and Syrian mercenaries, was widely documented by the U.N. Human Rights Office. Yet the administration maintained its close working relationship with President Erdoğan. The absence of even symbolic censure signaled that Washington would not obstruct the campaign. Scholars of international law have since described that period as “de facto acquiescence.”

This silence was not neutrality. It was a choice. When a world power remains quiet as a small democracy is attacked, that silence becomes endorsement.

Blocking Recognition of the First Genocide

In December 2019 both chambers of Congress voted overwhelmingly to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The House passed its resolution in October by 405 to 11. The Senate attempted to follow suit several times, but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, acting at the White House’s request, kept the measure from the floor. Reporting by Politico and The New York Times confirmed that President Trump personally asked McConnell to delay the vote, citing “sensitivity” to Turkey. Only after a bipartisan effort led by Senators Bob Menendez and Ted Cruz did the resolution reach the Senate, passing unanimously.

Despite that historic vote, the administration declined to issue any acknowledgement on April 24, 2020, the official day of remembrance. The Armenian community waited, hoping he might surprise us with empathy or courage. Instead, there was silence. For a people still carrying generational trauma from that genocide, the refusal to utter the word was an insult to history itself.

When a leader will not even recognize the genocide that defines our modern identity, we should not mistake that silence for friendship.

Domestic Echoes: The Citibank Scandal

The disregard did not stop at foreign policy. In October 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, led by Acting Director Russ Vought, a former Trump official, terminated a consent order that had barred Citibank from discriminating against Armenian Americans. The bank had been accused of systematically denying credit cards to applicants with “ian” and “yan” surnames in Glendale, California, referring to them internally as “Armenian bad guys” or the “Southern California Armenian Mafia.” Citibank paid $24.5 million in fines and restitution for those violations.

Yet the Trump-aligned agency ended the consent order three years early, waiving further scrutiny. Senator Adam Schiff condemned the decision as “a slap in the face to the Armenian American community.” For thousands of Armenian Americans still fighting to rebuild financial trust, the administration’s action felt like betrayal at home.

The Pattern: Power Over Principle

From Baku to Ankara to Wall Street, a single pattern emerges. Trump aligned himself with authoritarian strongmen and corporate power, while disregarding the human cost to those he claimed to champion. His administration made foreign policy personal and transactional. Human rights became expendable when they conflicted with self-interest.

This was evident not only in the South Caucasus but globally. His admiration for Erdoğan was well documented, as was his willingness to ignore that Turkey was providing weapons, intelligence, and foreign fighters to Azerbaijan during the Artsakh genocide. Instead of condemnation, he offered accommodation.

For Armenians, this was catastrophic. The administration’s decisions directly contributed to the conditions that enabled the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh.

A Wake-Up Call to Armenians

And yet, even now, years later, a large segment of the Armenian-American community continues to cheer for Donald Trump. Many Armenians in Glendale, Fresno, and across the diaspora have convinced themselves that he was “strong,” that he somehow stood for Christian values, that he would protect us from our enemies.

But strength without morality is not leadership. Power without conscience is not protection.

When a leader aids the dictators who attack your homeland, undermines the recognition of your genocide, and ends enforcement against discrimination targeting your own people, that is not a friend of Armenians. That is a man who used us for votes and discarded us when it mattered most.

Armenians have survived centuries of deception by remembering who stood with us when we were alone. It is time to remember again. We cannot afford delusion disguised as loyalty. Our ancestors did not endure the Ottoman death marches so we could applaud an American politician who empowered the same forces that sought our destruction.

It is not too late to reclaim our clarity. But first we must face the truth: Donald Trump’s policies hurt Armenians—at home, in Armenia, and in Artsakh.

The Cost of Silence

As a journalist who has covered Armenian issues for two decades, I have learned that silence can be as destructive as action. When a superpower refuses to name or restrain injustice, it legitimizes the aggressor. During the 2020 Artsakh genocide, that silence was deafening. The human toll is recorded in displacement statistics and refugee testimonies that the world can no longer ignore.

Our community must not repeat the same error in political form. By refusing to acknowledge the truth of what happened under Trump’s watch, we become complicit in our own erasure.

Looking Forward

Whether by intention or neglect, Donald Trump’s record toward Armenia and Armenians shows a consistent indifference to our survival and dignity. From the obstruction of genocide recognition to the waiver of laws meant to prevent armed aggression, his administration’s choices weakened deterrence and moral authority alike.

If the United States claims to stand for human rights, it must account for the precedents it sets. If Armenians claim to stand for truth, we must apply that same accountability to ourselves.

We cannot honor the martyrs of 1915 while praising a man who enabled their modern successors. We cannot wave both the Armenian flag and the Trump banner and pretend the two are aligned. They are not.

History will record that under Trump, America turned away when Armenians needed it most. The question now is whether Armenians will turn away from him—or continue to cheer the man who failed us all.