August 27, 2017
NOW HE'S LOST THE EXAMINER TOO:
Trump, once the law and order candidate, embraces lawless disorder with Arpaio pardon (Washington Examiner, Aug 26, 2017)
President Trump described himself as "the law and order candidate" on the campaign trail, but he has consistently shown he really meant "the candidate of busting heads."Trump's pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- a man who responded to overly-lax immigration enforcement with a lawless and overly-harsh crackdown on illegal immigrants and suspected illegal immigrants -- showed once again Trump really means "busting heads" when he says "law and order."There's plenty of overlap between toughness and law and order. Tough policing under the "broken windows" theory was central to the restoration of law and order in New York City in the 1990s. President Obama's softness on illegal immigration, especially late in his administration, amounted to disregard for immigration law. Trump's pledge to enforce immigration law with toughness has restored some order, with the number of illegal crossings apparently dropping in a few months.But "law and order," if the words have any meaning, has to apply to government actors as well. Lawless sheriffs promote disorder, and that's what Arpaio did to get himself convicted.
His obsessions on racial/religious matters and his failures on every matter of public policy put him in a position where the only reason to continue supporting him is that you hate Latinos, Asians, Africans, Muslims, etc. And, in America, hate is a tough sell.
Posted by Orrin Judd at August 27, 2017 8:35 AM