I Beg Your Pardon!

Most Presidents wait till the last year of their Presidency to pardon people but not this guy. Trump isn’t even President for one year and he used probably the most powerful tool a President has to clear the record of a horrible criminal. Pardons are the genuine get out of jail card for criminals. Pardons are the most powerful tool available to a President. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. President Trump recently pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio during the hurricane in Texas. Everyone was too consumed with the natural disaster to once not being consumed with the sad disaster Trump is.

For 25 years Sheriff had a reputation in Arizona as being a tough guy who used strange methods to deal with his prisoners. He was known for his crackdowns on illegal immigration and his crackdown on petty crimes with harsh prison conditions. He gave prisoners only 2 meals a day often with spoiled baloney sandwiches, made them wear pink underwear and prison stripes. He had a reality show called Smile You’re Under Arrest. Is this why Trump likes him?

Public humiliation is his style. Trump likes this guy so much he spoke about him positively during his campaign and had him speak during the Convention. Maricopa County in Arizona has a prison population of 4,242,997 inmates. That is a higher population than 24 states. He would house them in tent cities under the threat of gun fire. Temperatures would rise in the tents to 145 degrees. Arpaio is proud to say that he was the first in the world to put women in chain gangs. Arpaio had jails not prisons. Jails are designed to house prisoners for less than a year with folks waiting for a trial. Arpaio installed cameras in the bathrooms and it found footage linked to pornographic sites on the internet.

Arpaio said, “No juveniles would have been displayed unless they look older and lie to us.” So in his eyes this trash is ok? Well Trump grabs women by the pussy so it makes sense why Trump likes the Sheriff. It sounds like everyone’s nightmare who gets lost in small town sick politics. Arpaio is arrogant.  He said to a reporter, “I have not received any negative comment other than the Justice Department, Amnesty International or The National Civil Liberties Unit.” Those three important departments of American justice has the job to criticize you for mistreating prisoners. The prisoner’s nickname for him is Hitler. His treatment of inmates have proven to be deadly.

Over the years the County has paid out multiple large settlements to families of inmates who died in his jails including over $8 million dollars to the family of Scott Noerberg after being restrained, beaten and shot by prison guards. Another Detention Officer, Kimberly Walsh, testified that she intervened and said that the guy was turning blue and couldn’t breathe the officers replied, “Who gives a fuck” repeatedly till they killed the man.   

So, Trump likes guys that kill people and are called Hitler. No one should see someone dying and not give a shit! Arpaio and his officers showed no remorse or apologies for their murderous actions.  In fact Arpaio promoted the murderous officers to higher positions. As a law enforcement officer this Sheriff shows no respect for the law. How can Trump endorse this monster? Trump and Arpaio are one and the same in that Arpaio tried to sue anyone that he considered his enemy including Judges and County Officials. One lawsuit he brought about his criticizer resulted in his lawyer being disbarred for bringing frivolous cases to the bench. Trump lies all the time and makes our FBI go on wild goose chases from Hillary’s e-mails to Obama not wiretapping his home.

America’s toughest guy drops the ball. He has been found to drop the ball in that more than 400 sex-crimes were inadequately investigated including crimes involving children. Sheriff Joe Arpaio admitted to not following up on these crimes and casually said if there really were these crimes. It reminds me of Trump saying there were bad guys on both sides in the lethal statue protests where only one side killed a woman. Arpaio wasn’t even convicted on any of these crimes. He was jailed for racial profiling. A 3 year investigation by the Justice Department found that he was engaging in “unconstitutional Policing and a pervasive culture of discriminatory bias against Latinos.” Latinos are stopped up to 9 times more likely than other races. In one case a Latino was detained for 13 days for not using his turn signal in his car. Old people in Arizona don’t even drive unless their turn signal is on all the time!

The Sheriff is arrogant. He ignored the government warnings and in fact over the next 18 months deputies detained at least 171 people without criminal charges and turned them over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He is Trump’s kind of guy. Finally a Federal Judge found the Sheriff guilty of criminal intent. Trump’s pardon is a slap in the face to American justice and laws, the American people who are being treated unfairly and to Latinos. The Sheriff broke the rules he swore to uphold. Trump needs to be impeached for making a mockery of the debates, the Presidency, our Constitution and our judicial system.