Greets and saluts from the resistance in the NYC metro area. It’s a gorgeous day with perfect temps and humidity. This is one of those days where I wish I could get outside all day but alas that’s not to be.
So, Trump’s pushing for his pardon of Arpaio, and John Schindler thinks that this has some analog to Obama commuting the sentence of Chelsea Manning. Yeah, about that.
Sometimes Presidents pardon a loathsome criminal to pander to their hardcore base. It offends normals. But enough about Obama and Manning.
— John Schindler (@20committee) August 24, 2017
These aren’t the same ballpark of actions. They’re entirely different universe of actions.
— lawhawk (@lawhawk) August 24, 2017
These aren’t analogous situations. Trump’s readying a pardon before Arpaio has even served a day in prison (let alone sentenced). Obama commuted (aka shortened) the sentence for Manning who had already served 7 years in prison.
There’s no comparison here. The Obama base didn’t demand a commutation of sentence. Trump’s base would love it if Arpaio is pardoned, because that’s another signal that Trump’s giving the white supremacists and bigots in his core support the green light to continue their bigotry, racism, discrimination, and violence against minorities.