President Trump telegraphed it during his recent reelection campaign speech in Phoenix: He intended to pardon Arizona's former Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio. Campaigning for reelection after a mere seven months in office is unprecedented. But "unprecedented" has been used so much during the brief Trump presidency that it has become shopworn, forcing scribes to search for different adjectives. How about just plain "weird?"
Trump followed through on his "prediction" that "Arpaio would be OK" by pardoning him on a Friday night under cover of Hurricane Harvey.
It's customary for presidents to issue pardons. But usually they wait until five years after conviction. They consult with the Department of Justice and consider the extent to which the petitioner accepts responsibility, shows remorse for wrong doing and apologies to victims. None of these customary conditions have occurred for the Arpaio pardon.
A presidential pardon can act as a check on a miscarriage of justice. Trump obviously believes that the judicial ruling that Arpaio is guilty of contempt of court is such a miscarriage and that the judiciary was out of line. While Trump's pardon of Arpaio is seen as strictly legal, critics have observed that in light of Arpaio's egregious past, citing him for contempt of court is like citing Al Capone for tax evasion.
Sheriff Arpaio gained fame and notoriety by billing himself as "the nation's toughest sheriff." "Tough" can have either positive or negative connotations, depending on context. Clearly, supporters of Trump and Arpaio approved of Arpaio's treatment of prisoners, especially Latinos who were considered to be "illegals."
Impartial observers would consider Arpaio's treatment of prisoners as inhumane. He kept prisoners, many held prior to judgment and not even yet convicted, in army surplus tents where summer temperatures in Phoenix reached triple digits and under the tents reached over 120 degrees. Arpaio introduced the use of chain gangs and reduced meals to two per day, often consisting of moldy bread and spoiled food. He even eliminated salt and pepper under the guise of "reducing costs."
Arpaio himself boasted that his tent city was his version of a concentration camp. His long list of malpractice includes failure to investigate sex crimes. His misdeeds cost Maricopa County millions to settle numerous law suits. After 22 years as sheriff, the voters of Maricopa County finally voted him out in 2016.
So Trump's pardon, while under unusual conditions, is legal, it spares Arpaio jail time. And he is commended for his public service by the President of the United States.
Trump's action, under cover of Hurricane Harvey, should surprise nobody who has been paying attention. It simply adds to a rapidly expanding list of weird actions of presidential politics. It started with the "birther conspiracy," the fiction that President Obama is not an American citizen and is a Muslim to boot. Joe Arpaio subscribed to this fiction, even forming a five-man "cold-case posse" to investigate the theory. Nothing came of this ruse, except praise from Trump.
The list of Trump's weird stuff includes his dissing of Senator McCain's POW status, his early flap with the Pope, mockery of a reporter with a disability, his scorn of gold star parents, boasting of having his way with women, his total disrespect of his vanquished presidential opponent, his consideration of the free press as "enemy of the people," and the list goes on.
Actions that would have tanked any other presidential candidate not only did not tank Trump but fired up his supporters sufficiently to get him elected. So rather than pivot from campaigning to governing, Trump abides by the old saw, "Ya gotta dance with who brung ya."
Surely, one must believe, Trump is savvy enough, pragmatic enough, to realize that governing is different from campaigning. But he apparently believes that the tactics that made him money in real estate and got him elected are tactics that will make him a successful president. He believes he was elected to blow up the system and that is what he is doing.
Trump extolled his business success as a track record qualifying him for the presidency. Yes, there are principles practiced by successful business people that apply to political success. These include demonstrating problem-solving ability; working with subordinates, superiors and co-workers to achieve objectives; motivating people; giving credit to co-workers; and praising in public and reprimanding in private; in short, being part of a team to bring success to your organization.
In contrast to other successful business people, Trump was born to wealth and ran his own show, always acting from a position of power. Instead of reprimanding in private, he reprimands in public. He praises himself for all good things, including those for which he had no responsibility, refusing to accept any responsibility whatsoever when things go awry.
Most bizarre of all is his apparent failure to grasp that politics is the art of the possible. American democracy is based on checks and balances, with three equal branches of government. Trump has what all presidents dream of - a congress dominated by his own party, Republicans in this case.
It is weird, bizarre, surprising even those of us who have been paying attention, that Trump would go to Arizona and castigate both senators of his own party. This is in sharp contrast to normal procedure. For example, when campaigning in Wisconsin in 1952, for fear of alienating Republicans, Eisenhower deleted from an early draft of a speech disparaging comments about Sen. Joe McCarthy, who he despised.
Trump cannot by presidential edict solve health care, tax reform, immigration, or anything else. It does not take a degree in political science to know that Trump needs the congress, his own Republicans, to produce legislation for signature.
Publicly chastising Republican senators McCain, Flake, Corker, Murkowski and Collins, along with Majority Leader McConnell and House Speaker Ryan is just plain weird. The pattern continues.
- John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in the Monroe Times.
Trump followed through on his "prediction" that "Arpaio would be OK" by pardoning him on a Friday night under cover of Hurricane Harvey.
It's customary for presidents to issue pardons. But usually they wait until five years after conviction. They consult with the Department of Justice and consider the extent to which the petitioner accepts responsibility, shows remorse for wrong doing and apologies to victims. None of these customary conditions have occurred for the Arpaio pardon.
A presidential pardon can act as a check on a miscarriage of justice. Trump obviously believes that the judicial ruling that Arpaio is guilty of contempt of court is such a miscarriage and that the judiciary was out of line. While Trump's pardon of Arpaio is seen as strictly legal, critics have observed that in light of Arpaio's egregious past, citing him for contempt of court is like citing Al Capone for tax evasion.
Sheriff Arpaio gained fame and notoriety by billing himself as "the nation's toughest sheriff." "Tough" can have either positive or negative connotations, depending on context. Clearly, supporters of Trump and Arpaio approved of Arpaio's treatment of prisoners, especially Latinos who were considered to be "illegals."
Impartial observers would consider Arpaio's treatment of prisoners as inhumane. He kept prisoners, many held prior to judgment and not even yet convicted, in army surplus tents where summer temperatures in Phoenix reached triple digits and under the tents reached over 120 degrees. Arpaio introduced the use of chain gangs and reduced meals to two per day, often consisting of moldy bread and spoiled food. He even eliminated salt and pepper under the guise of "reducing costs."
Arpaio himself boasted that his tent city was his version of a concentration camp. His long list of malpractice includes failure to investigate sex crimes. His misdeeds cost Maricopa County millions to settle numerous law suits. After 22 years as sheriff, the voters of Maricopa County finally voted him out in 2016.
So Trump's pardon, while under unusual conditions, is legal, it spares Arpaio jail time. And he is commended for his public service by the President of the United States.
Trump's action, under cover of Hurricane Harvey, should surprise nobody who has been paying attention. It simply adds to a rapidly expanding list of weird actions of presidential politics. It started with the "birther conspiracy," the fiction that President Obama is not an American citizen and is a Muslim to boot. Joe Arpaio subscribed to this fiction, even forming a five-man "cold-case posse" to investigate the theory. Nothing came of this ruse, except praise from Trump.
The list of Trump's weird stuff includes his dissing of Senator McCain's POW status, his early flap with the Pope, mockery of a reporter with a disability, his scorn of gold star parents, boasting of having his way with women, his total disrespect of his vanquished presidential opponent, his consideration of the free press as "enemy of the people," and the list goes on.
Actions that would have tanked any other presidential candidate not only did not tank Trump but fired up his supporters sufficiently to get him elected. So rather than pivot from campaigning to governing, Trump abides by the old saw, "Ya gotta dance with who brung ya."
Surely, one must believe, Trump is savvy enough, pragmatic enough, to realize that governing is different from campaigning. But he apparently believes that the tactics that made him money in real estate and got him elected are tactics that will make him a successful president. He believes he was elected to blow up the system and that is what he is doing.
Trump extolled his business success as a track record qualifying him for the presidency. Yes, there are principles practiced by successful business people that apply to political success. These include demonstrating problem-solving ability; working with subordinates, superiors and co-workers to achieve objectives; motivating people; giving credit to co-workers; and praising in public and reprimanding in private; in short, being part of a team to bring success to your organization.
In contrast to other successful business people, Trump was born to wealth and ran his own show, always acting from a position of power. Instead of reprimanding in private, he reprimands in public. He praises himself for all good things, including those for which he had no responsibility, refusing to accept any responsibility whatsoever when things go awry.
Most bizarre of all is his apparent failure to grasp that politics is the art of the possible. American democracy is based on checks and balances, with three equal branches of government. Trump has what all presidents dream of - a congress dominated by his own party, Republicans in this case.
It is weird, bizarre, surprising even those of us who have been paying attention, that Trump would go to Arizona and castigate both senators of his own party. This is in sharp contrast to normal procedure. For example, when campaigning in Wisconsin in 1952, for fear of alienating Republicans, Eisenhower deleted from an early draft of a speech disparaging comments about Sen. Joe McCarthy, who he despised.
Trump cannot by presidential edict solve health care, tax reform, immigration, or anything else. It does not take a degree in political science to know that Trump needs the congress, his own Republicans, to produce legislation for signature.
Publicly chastising Republican senators McCain, Flake, Corker, Murkowski and Collins, along with Majority Leader McConnell and House Speaker Ryan is just plain weird. The pattern continues.
- John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in the Monroe Times.
