Believe it or not Republicans have been talking about empathy being a weakness for some time now, in their churches and bro podcasts and blogs

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-christian-battle-grows-over-whether-empathy-is-virtue-or-weakness-as-the-u-s-diversifies/ar-AA1RqIND

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/22/nx-s1-5321299/how-empathy-came-to-be-seen-as-a-weakness-in-conservative-circles

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/toxic-empathy-weakness/683355/

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2026/07/23/how-the-american-right-came-to-hate-empathy