Trump's gangsterism is showing more and more, with every despicable act he commits. On Friday August 25th 2017, illegitimate "president" Trump pardoned ex-sheriff/convicted criminal/racist terrorist/arch nemesis Joe "Pig" Arpaio. The criminal actions of Arpaio have been covered here several times before, most recently last November. Then, Arpaio was facing a federal contempt charge for directly disregarding a judge's order to cease and desist his racial profiling practices. Arpaio had also just lost his bid for a seventh term as sheriff of Maricopa County to [former Phoenix police sergeant] Paul Penzone.
Pigs in a blanket: Donald Trump and Joe Arpaio pictured here.
After years of violating human and civil rights, specifically, running a concentration camp (his words) and deliberately targeting Latino residents in immigration raids (with many unjust arrests and many legal and natural-borne residents having been swept in raids), Arpaio's reign of terror finally came to an end last November. Voters of Maricopa Co. had finally gotten fed up with him. And he was found in contempt of court for deliberately ignoring a federal judge's order not to carry out immigration raids and kidnap Latino people, just because he assumed they were "illegal". Initially, Arpaio was scheduled to go to trial for the contempt charge in December of last year, but that trial was postponed. In July 2017, Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt in a federal court. A misdemeanor, the 85 year old Arpaio faced [up to] six months in jail, as well as restitution. He had been scheduled for sentencing in October this year. But now, with Trump's erroneous pardon, that sentencing probably won't happen. A "get out of jail free" card, if there ever was one. Trump, a master criminal, helping out his buddy. Exactly how the mafia operates!
As grotesque and horrendous as this situation is, it's actually worse than you think, for two major reasons.
1. Pig Arpaio's sentencing had been set for October. Trump could've chosen anytime between now and then to pardon the pig bastard. But he choose to do so on Friday August 25th... on the day that Hurricane Harvey made landfall on SE Texas. A common assumption is Trump cynically did this so that his pardoning of a convicted criminal might get buried in the weekend news cycle, as all eyes focused on the disaster befalling TX and the Gulf Coast. That alone is horrifying, but when pressed about that allegation at a Monday news conference, Trump gave an answer that downright solidifies him as a dangerous sociopath: he timed Arpaio's pardoning on the eve of Hurricane Harvey so that his decision would get "more ratings". Wow. In other words, while millions of people in Houston and surrounding areas braced for utter disaster, Trump was thinking about... ratings.
“I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally – the hurricane was just starting.” - Donald Trump on Monday Aug. 28th 2017
What a miserable piece-of-shit, the both of 'em are! As of Tuesday Aug. 29th, Hurricane Harvey has since been downgraded to a slightly less lethal tropical storm. But it is still wrecking havoc and misery. The deadly storm (first staring as a category 1, then increasing to a category 4) parked itself over the Houston metropolitan area this past weekend and dumped 11 trillion gallons of water, so far. Major highways have been flooded. Hundreds of thousands of people have either been rendered homeless, forced to seek shelter, or still facing a flood threat. The death toll stands at 30... so far. Harvey has been declared the worst natural disaster to hit TX... EVER! And it was still going on, as of this entry's publishing. But all those poor folks can rest assured, knowing without any shred of doubt that their so-called "president" does not give a shit about them. Nor the rule of law.
And speaking of the law, here's the other major reason why Arpaio's pardon is even more horrific than it at first seems.
2. Trump has been under investigation over mafia business ties to Russia and alleged election interference for months. He has been accused of building his real estate empire with his Russian Mob connections, dating back as far as the 1980's. Various former/current members of the Trump regime have been under FBI investigation. Trump himself is under investigation for obstruction of justice If Trump is able to just pardon a known criminal who repeatedly violated a judge's order, who's been convicted of a federal crime - and not be made to suffer any consequences for it - than that means Trump can probably pardon whom ever he damn well wants. That goes for any of his criminal cronies, criminal family members, his Russian mafia business buddies, etc. That means that if anyone with any personal, political, or business ties to Trump ends up getting charged and convicted of a crime, it won't matter. Because Trump will simply pardon them. Trump himself will never have to answer or explain himself. Then, we will be a full-on DICTATORSHIP.
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