According to reporting by the Washington Post, The Donald attempted to intervene in the federal prosecution of Joe Arpaio.
As Joseph Arpaio’s federal case headed toward trial this past spring, President Trump wanted to act to help the former Arizona county sheriff who had become a campaign-trail companion and a partner in their crusade against illegal immigration.
The president asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions whether it would be possible for the government to drop the criminal case against Arpaio, but was advised that would be inappropriate, according to three people with knowledge of the conversation.
After talking with Sessions, Trump decided to let the case go to trial, and if Arpaio was convicted, he could grant clemency.
As everyone knows by now, Trump granted Arpaio a pardon as Hurricane Harvey stormed into Texas.
Arpaio famously, and repeatedly, ignored a federal court order to stop accosting people he thought might be here illegally and demanding proof of citizenship. Apparently, Trump thought it finicky to expect a county sheriff to observe the 4th Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Am I the only person to note the irony that immigrants, legal or not, probably appreciate America and its freedoms a lot more than Trump, Arpaio, or that strange pastiche of freaks and pious nutjobs who are the alt-right? I think, in fact, that makes a strong case for immigration — and lots of it.
After all, millions of Americans voted for a man who proposed a religious test to enter the United States, and publicly speculated that a Muslim registry might be just the thing. A man unrelievedly hostile to freedom of the press. A man who freely advocated violence against people whose speech he doesn’t like. A man who needs a script to condemn neo-Nazis.
I’d trust an immigrant with my freedoms a lot faster than I’d trust a Trump supporter.