Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin unloads on Donald Trump’s presidential pardon of convicted criminal Joe Arpaio, calling out the “complicity” of congressional Republicans who “will again respond with nothing more than tut-tutting and head-shaking,” as they did following the domestic terror attack in Charlottesville earlier this month.
“We have come to expect Trump to identify with the most lawless, most bigoted elements in the country,” Rubin writes. “He is not about leading or unifying the country. He’s about protecting his guys, especially if it enrages the rest of the country”:
Once again, Trump made common cause not with the victims of racism or persecution but with their perpetrator. In Trump’s mind, harassing Hispanics and subjecting them to inhumane treatment is the sign of a good law enforcement officer (like letting a suspect smack his head on the top of a police car or killing terrorists’ families, as he’s publicly endorsed).
Trump’s adolescent, exaggerated and dishonorable view of police and military authority might be attributed to over-compensation for his lack of physical courage and military service. It might stem from his total lack of appreciation of our democratic values. Never forget, however, that the most important consideration for Trump is Trump. The determination as to whether someone is deserving or a “good guy” is whether he supports Trump. In this case, Arpaio supported Trump in his birtherism and cruelty toward immigrants. He is a good guy in Trump’s eyes. Trump chooses his own personal and legal interests over any concern for the larger message his actions sends to the country.
“Trump’s defenders deny he is a racist, but that’s no longer a plausible characterization of the man who rose to fame on birtherism, incited white grievance and resentment throughout his campaign, stereotyped African-American life as invariably violent and hellish, tried to ban Muslims and has approved inhumane deportation procedures that tear apart families.”
Let’s not forget he is also a popular vote loser who has used his first presidential pardon—in a process that former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said violated Department of Justice guidelines—to give his presidential stamp of approval to violating a federal judge’s court order so long as it results in terrorism against Latino and immigrant communities.
Make no mistake, this is a move to embolden hate and curry favor with white supremacists. Arpaio, who was run out of office by Maricopa County voters in disgrace, is certainly feeling it. Just today, Arpaio floated that he may challenge Jeff Flake’s Arizona Senate seat, a once unthinkable idea, following his November loss and subsequent criminal conviction. Arpaio is now home free, and though he may be full of it when it comes to actually challenging Flake, the fact that he’s even vocalizing it—and fundraising off his pardon—shows he feels vindicated:
[Trump] thinks neo-Nazis include some “fine people” and seeks to ally himself with a modern day Bull Connor. (This is same man who is still convinced that the African American youths dubbed the Central Park Five are guilty.) When race is an issue he always comes down on the side against the oppressed, never their oppressors. It defies the law of averages and decades of his public life to conclude he is not motivated by racial animosity, resentment and/or stereotyping.
Trump isn’t letting only Arpaio off the hook—he’s letting all white supremacists off the hook. “He is irredeemable, unfit for office,” Rubin concludes about Trump. “Those who remain should be held accountable for their moral cowardice and whatever assistance they provide him in tearing the country asunder.”