Welcome to our weekly “Trumptastrophe” series that serves to remind us of the destructive policies, decisions, and actions we encountered during the Trump presidency and the threats that he and others in the MAGA movement still pose – and to keep those moments clear in our memory as we fight to defeat Republican extremists during the upcoming elections.
This week’s Trumptastrophe focuses on former President Trump’s long history of anti-immigrant racism and his support for white nationalists and other MAGA allies that help further his harsh immigration policies:
On August 25, 2017, Trump granted a pardon to Joe Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff who had become infamous for his racist birtherism, illegal racial profiling, and cruelty in treating undocumented immigrants. Arpaio was facing potential jail time after his conviction for criminal contempt after his department defied court orders to stop racially profiling and detaining Latino motorists.
Civil and human rights leaders denounced Trump’s move as “a presidential endorsement of racism” and “a dangerous message that a law enforcement officer who abused his position of power and defied a court order can simply be excused by a president who himself clearly does not respect the law.”
“Trump’s pardon elevates Arpaio once again to the pantheon of those who see institutional racism as something that made America great,” The Arizona Republic editorialized.
By 2021, Arpaio’s actions as sheriff had cost county taxpayers $100 million for “attorney fees, settlements and other costs the county has paid from lawsuits over things such as jail deaths, failed investigations of the sheriff's political enemies and immigration raids of businesses” and another $178 million “and counting” from a racial profiling case “stemming from Arpaio’s signature traffic patrols targeting immigrants.”
The once-popular Arpaio had been turned out of office by voters in 2016, but in spite of—or perhaps because of—his cruel and lawbreaking policies, Arpaio achieved a sort of MAGA folk-hero status among far-right activists and so-called “constitutional sheriffs.” He was invited to speak at the 2016 Republican National Convention and religious-right events, and endorsed the Institute on the Constitution’s Christian Reconstructionist course on the U.S. Constitution. In 2022, Arpaio spoke at AFPAC, the white nationalist America First Political Action Conference organized by the notoriously racist and antisemitic Nick Fuentes.
After Trump’s pardon, Arpaio tried to make a political comeback with a 2018 run for the U.S. Senate, but came in last place in a three-candidate Republican primary. In 2020, voters rejected his attempt to win back his job as Maricopa County sheriff. Two years later he lost his bid to become mayor of a Phoenix suburb.
Trump’s admiration for Arpaio highlights the former president’s disdain for the rule of law and his harmful impact on American culture and politics.
Trump’s willingness to use racist and anti-immigrant dog whistles and stoke “white grievance” as a political strategy were in evidence in August 2020 at the COVID-limited Republican National Convention held at the White House. Right Wing Watch noted at the time:
The limitless cynicism and lawlessness of the Trump administration was on full display during the second night of the Republican National Convention. Perhaps the most shameless moment came when President Donald Trump turned a citizenship naturalization ceremony from a nonpartisan moment of celebration into a partisan campaign event. That would have been awful (and illegal) under any circumstance, but it was especially despicable coming from an administration that has slammed the door to the very refugees and legal immigrants it pretended to value Tuesday night.
Trump’s anti-immigrant politics of white grievance have been on continuous display this year through Trump’s campaign rhetoric, in Project 2025’s agenda for a new Trump administration, and at July’s Republican National Convention, where cheering delegates waved printed “MASS DEPORTATION NOW!” signs.
How might Trump use his pardon power if he wins this year’s election and returns to the White House?
Trump has suggested that if he returns to the presidency, he will “absolutely” pardon the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to help him stay in power after he lost the 2020 election. As president, he asserted that he had the “absolute right” to pardon himself—a disputed claim that has never been resolved by the Supreme Court—and considered giving himself a pardon before leaving office in 2021.
These are just some of the reasons we need YOU in this fight. So, find your favorite way to unwind after reading through this week’s recap, and then make a plan for how you will fight back this week, this month, this election cycle.
