This has been a catastrophic summer in real life. An elite Special Ops Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Yemen, ending the life of yet another US serviceman. A second Navy ship collision killed 10 sailors. In June a Navy ship collision killed seven sailors. In May, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Hawaii, killing all five airmen. After this latest crash, Trump tweeted, “That’s too bad.”
Of course the big concern in real life is Hurricane Harvey slamming into the coast of Texas, deluging the coast with 50 inches of rain in just days! People are clinging to the rafters of their attics, hospitals are being evacuated, people in the lower areas of Houston are flooded into place; unable to leave with the water rising. Thousands of people are in deep distress and need help in getting through this incredible natural disaster.
But in Trump’s world, Donald Trump had a pleasant golfing weekend with his family in tow at Camp David. He has not mentioned the sailors or airmen who died. The people of Houston seem barely a thought in his mind and weren’t even mentioned in a tweet. He had much weightier things on his mind. His “friend” needed his help. So, while people in Houston were being inundated with devastating rain and wind last Friday, Donald Trump issued his first pardon.
As sheriff, Joe Arpaio spent decades harassing, humiliating, arresting and sometimes killing Latinos in Arizona. When ordered by the courts to cease his racist activities, he refused. He continued, was arrested, tried and convicted for violating people’s constitutional rights. He was due to be sentenced in October, when Trump sprang into action. Bypassing all normal agencies and processes; with a wave of his magic pen, Trump pardoned the racist criminal.
Once again, Trump has shown us his true face. After Charlottesville, he said there were many fine people in the Nazi/KKK parade and now he has pardoned a convicted racist. With his policies and budget proposal, we can see that ordinary people don’t figure into his reality. His budget calls for cutting agencies and funding that benefit society. His policies deny dignity and a modicum of safety regarding the vulnerable and every minority community.
I think Trump is counting on each of us, in our diversity, to continue to turn on one another rather than unite as fellow Americans. There is power in the will of the people. We must choose skillfully how to wield our power for the good of us all.