For the KKK, the Trump administration is the gift that keeps on giving. A week or so after coddling Nazis and declaring free speech protesters were just as bad as them he has now pardoned Joe Arpaio, the single most racist sheriff in America.
The dog whistle to the white nationalist right could not be more clear, the potential for race clashes in this hopelessly divided country never more worrying.
Note that even the US Justice Department wanted no part of this pardon rushing out a statement that it was Trump alone who decided it. Trump has pardoned one of his biggest supporters, in this new world loyalty to Trump overrules loyalty to the law. It is obvious if there are any convictions out of the Mueller inquiry Trump will likely pardon. The law is no longer the law, it is the law according to Trump.
Read More: Donald Trump, Ian Paisley both encouraged men of violence
You can only imagine the reaction from the members of the judiciary after a perfectly solid legal ruling is besmirched in the name of a quick hit for members of his racist base by Trump.
Our president is a divider, not a uniter, an enabler of white nationalism, not a man for all colors and races. His father was arrested at a KKK march, the apple has not fallen far from the tree. It is a terrible reality.
Protesters in Phoenix put up 3 inflatables: Joe Arpaio in prison uniform, Donald Trump in KKK robe, & chicken that resembles @POTUS. #abc15 pic.twitter.com/LryGd2Twsa
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) August 23, 2017
Joe Arpaio even is on the record saying that being compared to the KKK is a compliment, a comment he made to that other well-known white bigot Lou Dobbs.
Arpaio did his best through lies and smears to prove President Obama was not a US citizen. For such services he has now been pardoned.
Arpaio continued despite a federal judge ordering him to desist from profiling members of the Hispanic community in Arizona and jailing them.
U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton wrote that Arpaio had shown a “flagrant disregard” for the court’s command and that his attempt to pin the conduct on those who worked for him rang hollow.
Read More: KKK, Nazis, racism - Trump voters you knew what you were getting into
“Not only did Defendant abdicate responsibility, he announced to the world and to his subordinates that he was going to continue business as usual no matter who said otherwise,” Bolton wrote.
Trump is allegedly a law and order president. Here he is celebrating and pardoning a man who blatantly broke the law--a law he was constitutionally bound to upkeep when he was elected to office.
Threatening journalists, enabling Nazis, pardoning white racists, how low can this president go?
As Congressman Joe Crowley put it: “President Trump has once again chosen to appease the most anti-immigrant voices in his party. Pardoning one of the country’s most notorious anti-immigrant crusaders sends a chilling message to hardworking immigrants and their families throughout the country. And waving away the crimes of someone who is currently facing jail time for refusing to stop racially profiling immigrants sadly only confirms President Trump’s inability to stand up to those who spread hate.”
The damage done to the social fabric of America is horrendous, the intent is clearly there for all to see of enabling a white nationalist agenda. It is incredible there are still men and women in this administration who lack the courage to walk away from this bigot.
Comments