If one traces Donald Trump's history, it soon becomes obvious that the man is a racist and has been one for decades. Be it racial discrimination 40+ years ago in Norfolk, Virginia, his fanning of the birtherism insanity against Barack Obama, or his accusations against young blacks in New York City all of whom were acquitted of any wrong doing, the man has shown himself to be a bigot time and time again. Hence, his effort to establish a false equivalence between white supremacists and Neo-Nazis as in contrast to those who oppose racism and fascism should come as no surprise. Now, with his pardon on Joe Arpaio, a man who engaged in brutal civil rights abuses Hispanics, Phoenix's Arizona Republic, a leading Arizona newspaper is calling Trump out for what he is in fact and stating the obvious: Trump is seeking to empower white nationalists and Neo-Nazis. Here are editorial highlights:
While America was talking about tearing down monuments that offend historically oppressed people, Donald Trump effectively erected yet another one.
His pardon of Joe Arpaio elevated the disgraced former Maricopa County sheriff to monument status among the immigration hardliners and nationalists in Trump’s base. This erases any doubt about whether Trump meant to empower them after the violence in Charlottesville.
Arpaio is their darling. Arpaio is now back on his pedestal thanks to their president. This insult wasn’t a surprise. Trump told us it was coming during his rally-the-base speech in Phoenix Tuesday. But that doesn’t lessen the sting or diminish the significance of Trump’s decision to put Arpaio back on the national stage.
Maricopa County had a bellyful of this showboat sheriff and voted him out of office last year. A federal court found Arpaio in criminal contempt for ignoring a judge's order in a long-running case over racial profiling of Latino motorists. It was a dose of hard-won justice for a too-flamboyant sheriff who showed little respect for the Constitution as he made national news as an immigration hardliner – and let real crimes go uninvestigated.
Donald Trump’s pardon elevates Arpaio once again to the pantheon of those who see institutional racism as something that made America great. Many will characterize it as a slap to the Latino community – and it is. The vast majority of Latinos in Arizona are not undocumented, yet they all fell under heightened scrutiny as Arpaio honed his image.
The pardon was a slap to those who worked through the judicial system to make Arpaio accountable, too. It robbed the people hurt by his policies of justice – even before a judge could mete out a sentence. The pardon was a sign of pure contempt for every American who believes in justice, human dignity and the rule of law.
Arpaio was riding high in 2010 when then-Gov. Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1070, a draconian law written to intimidate people. Then Arizona came to its senses. It recognized the dangers of scapegoating – or at least the economic risks of alienating a growing demographic group.
Then came Trump. He resurrected Arpaio’s rhetoric and made a hit on the national stage. He used Arpaio as a warm-up act during campaign rallies and modeled his own speeches on Arpaio’s rambling populist routine.
After Trump was elected, many hoped he would abandon his habit of appealing to the worst instincts of disaffected white Americans who have been left behind by economic changes that had little to do with undocumented immigration.
Trump spent last week demonstrating that he wants to be president of the few. By pardoning Arpaio, Trump made it clear that institutional racism is not just OK with him. It is a goal. That should trouble every American who believes that our duty as a nation is to continue working on behalf of equal justice.
In another piece, the Arizona Republic looks at how the Arpio pardon threatens the rule of law in America and gives us a preview of how Trump will use the pardon of family members and political cronies to thwart the Russiagate investigation. What is most disturbing, is that a majority of Republicans support this trashing of the rule of law. And let's not forget that evangelical Christians remain Trump's most loyal supporters. Both groups have underscored their moral bankruptcy.
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