slate "Trump's Revenge"
The president’s pardon of Joe Arpaio is revolting for many reasons. Most disgusting of all is that he did it to torment anyone who doesn’t support him.
By Michelle Goldberg
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/08/trump_s_pardon_of_joe_arpaio_is_about_revenge.html
Friday night, Breitbart tweeted out its story about Donald Trump’s pardon of sadistic former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio with these lines: “Look what you just made me do Look what you just made me do.” It was a reference to the new Taylor Swift song, but it was also a celebration of Trump’s unhinged abusiveness.
The Arpaio pardon was monstrous for many reasons. It sent a signal of impunity to racist police all over this country. It spit in the face of people who were targeted and even tortured by a sheriff who once proudly referred to his Tent City jail as a “concentration camp.” Trump circumvented ordinary Justice Department review procedures, which both demonstrates his contempt for the rule of law and ensures that next time he issues a precipitous pardon—say, to his son—it will be slightly less shocking. He sent a message to his cronies under pressure in the Russia probe to stay strong, by demonstrating his willingness to defy all normal political constraints in letting criminal conduct off the hook. Trump supporter Don Surber, a former West Virginia newspaper columnist fired for describing the dead teenager Michael Brown as an “animal” who had to be put “down” by police, exulted on his blog: “In pardoning Arpaio, President Trump sent a message to those under investigation by two dozen Democratic lawyers. …The message of his pardon is: Donald Trump has your back.”
But one of the most revolting things about the pardon was captured in Breitbart’s taunting tweet. The president was furious about being criticized for being a racist, and so, like a violent father smacking around his wife and children, he took it out on the majority of the country that fears and abhors him.
The Arpaio pardon should be seen in concert with the news, also breaking Friday, that Trump is planning to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which allows undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children to apply for work permits and protection from deportation. Just two months ago, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security announced that DACA, which protects about 740,000 people, would continue. Polling showed that even broad majorities of Trump voters supported letting the DACA beneficiaries—sometimes known as Dreamers—stay in the country. What changed between now and then? Well, John Kelly, the new chief of staff, is an immigration hard-liner. But the previous policy on DACA was instituted under his auspices at Homeland Security. More significant, I think, is that the president had his feelings hurt.
snip - more to read at the above link
= new reply since forum marked as read
