by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Donald Trump is coming off of a very hard couple of days as a result of his botched comments on the extreme racial violence that wracked Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. His initial response was to blame all sides in the conflict, and to not call out by name the racist and fascist groups whose members showed up in the streets to protest the removal of a Confederate statue. News reports indicated that many of the protesters were from outside of the area - and were armed and shouting obscenities about racial minorities and Jews.
Trump blamed "all sides," and tried to equate the current strife and violence with things that happened during the presidency of Barack Obama as well - a vague and half-hearted response that seemed to be giving cover to the extremists whose actions had precipitated the day's events. Two days later he regrouped and mumbled a soft condemnation of the KKK and neo-Nazis. By then nobody was taking him seriously, not even the groups he had finally chosen to criticize.
Donald Trump had placed himself in a public relations box, and to extricate himself from that box he had to go on record and speak critically about groups made up of individuals who had been at the core of his campaign. When that wash is finally hung out on the line to dry, it won't have changed much. People who never liked Trump to begin with will be a bit more steadfast in their disgust of the man and his actions - and people who always fed at his trough of hatred will still be happily gobbling up his swill.
But Trump had been called out for his thinly-veiled racist ardor - and he had been forced to mouth words that weren't part of his actual belief system. Not only had Democrats and their left-wing "fake news" press singled him out for criticism, but some Republican politicians and a few national businessmen had turned on him as well. He had been gut-punched, and he was damned well going to punch back.
Yesterday Donald Trump floated a trial balloon. In an attempt to shift the focus away from racism against blacks and back toward his comfort zone of racism against Latinos, Trump told Fox News (of course) that he would likely be pardoning former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio, who was recently convicted of criminal contempt of court because he blatantly ignored a court order to stop targeting the state's Latino residents in his notorious traffic checks and investigations. Now Arpaio is awaiting sentencing, a process that could land him behind bars for up to six months.
So Donald Trump lost a big public relations battle in Virginia through his own ineptitude, and now he is trying to balance his racist ledger by using the powers of his office to showcase and forgive another bigot.
Trump pardoning Joe Arpaio would be a case of two flabby old white guys massaging each other's egos. It would be another of Trump's grand distractions as he continues his failure to govern. And a Trump pardon of Joe Arpaio would be an insult to thoughtful and caring Americans everywhere - not just those with brown skin.
It would also be a valentine to his fascist base.
Citizen Journalist
Donald Trump is coming off of a very hard couple of days as a result of his botched comments on the extreme racial violence that wracked Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. His initial response was to blame all sides in the conflict, and to not call out by name the racist and fascist groups whose members showed up in the streets to protest the removal of a Confederate statue. News reports indicated that many of the protesters were from outside of the area - and were armed and shouting obscenities about racial minorities and Jews.
Trump blamed "all sides," and tried to equate the current strife and violence with things that happened during the presidency of Barack Obama as well - a vague and half-hearted response that seemed to be giving cover to the extremists whose actions had precipitated the day's events. Two days later he regrouped and mumbled a soft condemnation of the KKK and neo-Nazis. By then nobody was taking him seriously, not even the groups he had finally chosen to criticize.
Donald Trump had placed himself in a public relations box, and to extricate himself from that box he had to go on record and speak critically about groups made up of individuals who had been at the core of his campaign. When that wash is finally hung out on the line to dry, it won't have changed much. People who never liked Trump to begin with will be a bit more steadfast in their disgust of the man and his actions - and people who always fed at his trough of hatred will still be happily gobbling up his swill.
But Trump had been called out for his thinly-veiled racist ardor - and he had been forced to mouth words that weren't part of his actual belief system. Not only had Democrats and their left-wing "fake news" press singled him out for criticism, but some Republican politicians and a few national businessmen had turned on him as well. He had been gut-punched, and he was damned well going to punch back.
Yesterday Donald Trump floated a trial balloon. In an attempt to shift the focus away from racism against blacks and back toward his comfort zone of racism against Latinos, Trump told Fox News (of course) that he would likely be pardoning former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio, who was recently convicted of criminal contempt of court because he blatantly ignored a court order to stop targeting the state's Latino residents in his notorious traffic checks and investigations. Now Arpaio is awaiting sentencing, a process that could land him behind bars for up to six months.
So Donald Trump lost a big public relations battle in Virginia through his own ineptitude, and now he is trying to balance his racist ledger by using the powers of his office to showcase and forgive another bigot.
Trump pardoning Joe Arpaio would be a case of two flabby old white guys massaging each other's egos. It would be another of Trump's grand distractions as he continues his failure to govern. And a Trump pardon of Joe Arpaio would be an insult to thoughtful and caring Americans everywhere - not just those with brown skin.
It would also be a valentine to his fascist base.
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