The Arpaio Pardon: You’re Not the Audience – emptywheel

The Arpaio Pardon: You’re Not the Audience – emptywheel
We're not the audience for the pardon. "So while feeding his explicitly racist base with hateful rhetoric is important, it’s even more important to ensure that the cops remain with him, even as he fosters violence. There is no better way to do that than to convey to police that they can target brown people, that they can ignore all federal checks on their power, with impunity (this is probably one key reason why Trump has given up his efforts to oust Sessions, because on policing they remain in perfect accord). There is no better way to keep the support of cops who support Trump because he encourages their abuses then by pardoning Arpaio for the most spectacular case of such abuses. You’re not the audience for this pardon. The cops are."