Trump's "law and order" is about neither one
Impunity for Joe Arpaio makes good policing harder. So does access to military gear.
Late on Friday, August 25, with the news networks focused on the hurricane approaching Texas, the Trump administration announced the president’s pardon of Joe Arpaio. The infamously cruel former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, was found guilty in July of criminal contempt of court after ignoring a federal order to stop profiling Latinos. Trump’s pardon weeks later bypassed the usual review process completely.
A few days later, the administration announced it would reverse a 2015 rule limiting the flow of used military gear to local police. The rule was put in place following the events in Ferguson, Missouri, when protests of the police shooting of Michael Brown were met with an overwhelming show of force. Trump wants more heavy artillery in American streets, not less.
Both moves reflect a consistent thread in Trump’s thinking: his uncritical loyalty not just to police but to the most extreme, authoritarian policing tactics. In a July speech, Trump even encouraged officers to be less careful about hurting suspects during arrests. And he sarcastically mocked those who might object that “you’re not allowed to have rough people doing this kind of work.”
