A Look Back at our President's Wild Summer
This summer, we all got front row seats in watching one debacle unfold after another as the Trump administration stumbled through domestic and international affairs. The list of controversial events is so staggeringly long that one would have to write a novel to cover all of them. Below are a few noteworthy mentions.
Most recently, President Trump pardoned former sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, Joe Arpaio. Arpaio has been entangled in legal issues for over the past decade as a result of his blatant racism and his complete disregard for civil rights. Arpaio had Latino prisoners marched away from all the other prisoners to a separate area with electric fencing. He has faced two lawsuits regarding the wrongful deaths of prisoners. He shackled women in labor to the beds in prison. The man Trump pardoned is regarded by many as perhaps the worst sheriff in America.
Practically all the cards were thrown up into the air on election night, and ever since Trump’s inauguration, everyone seems to be holding their breath, waiting for what happens next.
Arpaio was convicted because a federal judge ordained that he and those who worked below him had violated the constitutional rights of Latinos in 2013. As a result, an independent monitor was ordered to oversee the sheriff’s office. Then, in 2014, the same judge referred Arpaio for prosecution for criminal contempt because, according to the judge, his order had been mocked and defied. Arpaio then lost his sheriff’s seat on November 8 and was convicted in July. He was expected to appeal but then was pardoned by Trump.
Democrats, both the Arizona Republican senators and even Speaker of the House Paul Ryan condemned the pardon and went so far as to say that the President undermined the rule of law by pardoning Arpaio. To add a cherry on top, Trump himself claimed he intentionally pardoned Arpaio while Hurricane Harvey was devastating Texas because he thought the ratings would be “far higher.” Yes, he really said that.
Another controversy is the President’s remarks on the protests in Charlottesville. On August 12, the “Unite the Right” protests lead by white supremacists and neo-Nazis clashed with peaceful counter-protests, turned violent and erupted into shoving, racial taunting and brawling. The protests were caused as a result of the city’s decision to remove a statue of the confederate Robert E. Lee. The night took a deadly turn when a car smashed into a crowd, killing a woman and injuring 19 others.
In response, Trump said, “we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides.” Nope. There was hate on just one side. The counter-protests weren’t the ones chanting “Jews will not replace us.” As a matter of fact, the counter protests were peaceful. Trump later went on to say that there was “blame on both sides,” and that there were “some very fine people on both sides.” Apparently, neo-Nazis and white supremacists are now good people… who knew? After his remarks, former KKK leader Daniel Duke tweeted thanks to the president, for his “honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists.” I think it’s safe to say that when Daniel Duke is praising anyone at all there’s something very wrong going on.
The list of grievances over the summer continues, including Trump tweeting a ban on transgender people in the military before he even told his own staff, threatening North Korea with nukes, shaming one of his first supporters, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, for doing the right thing, encouraging cops to rough up suspects and begrudgingly signing Russian sanctions after their interference in the 2016 presidential election. But what do all these events say about our future?
What we can say for sure is that our country’s future is very unstable. Practically all the cards were thrown up into the air on election night, and ever since Trump’s inauguration, everyone seems to be holding their breath, waiting for what happens next. At this point, I think our only hope is the new White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly. Trump respects Kelly a lot, especially for managing immigration policy as Secretary of Homeland Security. Trump tweeted, “John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security,” and went on to call Kelly a “great American” and a “true star of my Administration.”
Kelly adds a new element of stability within the White House, which at this point is a very much needed ingredient. “The kind of discipline that [John Kelly] is going to bring is important,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said. “I hope that we’re at a turning point now.” He has support from both Democrats and Republicans. Hopefully, as Kelly settles into his job as Chief of Staff after replacing Reince Priebus, he can take the bull by the horns—which in this case, is Trump’s temper––and somewhat calm him down and talk a little sense into him. And if that doesn’t work, then perhaps he could push him in the right direction.
At this point, we just have to close our eyes, pray that John Kelly acts as a good influence on the president and hope the next three and a quarter years go by as quickly as possible.