In case you missed it, Donald Trump – and I can’t even believe I’m saying this – seems to have tried to bend Hurricane Harvey to his will by using the storm as a diversionary tactic to deflect attention away from three notable things that happened on Friday evening, just as Harvey was bearing down on Texas.
One of those things was pardoning Joe Arpaio, a move that would have been controversial enough on its own, but has now taken on extra significance as it comes amid a worsening of race relations tied to Trump’s bungled response to Charlottesville.
As a reminder, Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt for ignoring a court order in a racial profiling case involving his rather nasty habit of singling out and detaining drivers based on their ethnicity.
Well predictably, the criticism is pouring in faster than rain from a Cat. 4. And while USA Today isn’t exactly a bastion of in-depth analysis, the very fact that it’s painfully mainstream means that Trump will see it, which is why the following is so amusing…
Via USA Today
Fresh from pouring gasoline on the fires of intolerance in Charlottesville, Va., President Trump on Friday pardoned a man who systematically persecuted people of color.
Invoking the presidential pardon power for this man – former Maricopa County (Ariz.) sheriff Joe Arpaio – further shreds whatever semblance of moral authority the president retains, not to mention Republican hopes of making inroads among Hispanic voters.
The pardon, announced Friday evening as a major hurricane bore down on the Texas coast, also has a potentially chilling effect on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation by signaling targets of that inquiry that the president might let them off the hook, even if they refuse to cooperate.
Arpaio was one of the first officials to endorse Donald Trump for president early last year. He spoke on Trump’s behalf at the Republican convention last summer. Maybe that’s all the character reference required to win the president’s allegiance.
The pardon, which bypassed the normal process for executive clemency, wasn’t unexpected. Trump told Fox News this month that Arpaio was “a great American patriot.” He praised Arpaio’s self-styled toughness on illegal immigration and said a pardon was under serious consideration. And the president hinted at the action at Tuesday night’s rally in Phoenix.
Arpaio, 85, faced up to six months in jail for willfully violating a federal court order while sheriff by allowing racial-profiling roundups of suspected undocumented immigrants. Sentencing was set for Oct. 5.
The sentencing judge could have considered Arpaio’s age and other factors. Given the history of “Sheriff Joe,” presidential interference in the judicial system was premature and unwarranted.
As documented by federal investigators, Latinos living in Maricopa County during Arpaio’s reign as sheriff from 1993 to 2016 suffered abuse and discrimination. They were four- to nine-times more likely to be pulled over in traffic stops, often for no good reason. One legal U.S. resident stopped in 2008 for not using his turn signal was jailed for 13 days before the case was dismissed.
The sheriff, who was finally voted out of office last year, was famous for housing inmates in a sweltering tent city. Spanish-speaking inmates picked up on immigration sweeps served harsh time in Arpaio’s jails. Detention officers cursed at them in Spanish.
The federal investigators found that a “wall of distrust” between a harassed Latino community and the sheriff’s department hampered police investigations. Hundreds of sexual assault and child molestation cases went unsolved where many of the victims appeared to be Latino.
Despite all this, Trump said of Arpaio: “He has protected people from crimes and saved lives. He doesn’t deserve to be treated this way.”
In fact, just the opposite is true. Latinos taken into custody were abused, and hundreds of crimes, many against children, were unsolved. This is the kind of person worthy of a pardon?
furthermore, this disgusting jerk went to Hawaii for trump to investigate Obama’s birth certificate — when trump said he had investigators in Hawaii checking out the birther crap – well, this is who he sent to Hawaii – that’s the bond of these two horrible men — of course trump pardoned him – payback! Neither one of these guys should ever be on our payroll. Put them in one of the sheriff’s tents and feed them the slop he fed them every day and make sure they are wearing the same pink jumpsuits – along with all the other mistreatment. Pretty incredible that both of these corrupt people are walking around freely.
– Murphy