# Is Trump going to Phoonix to pardon Joe Arpaio? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376 "2017-08-22T16:21:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/21 "2017-08-22T17:58:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Sheriff Arpaio was trying to do his job under a President that didn’t support enforcement of immigration laws. Eight long and frustrating years for law enforcement. > > Arpaio eventually got in trouble with a judge for not backing down. > > I have no problem pardoning him. He’s out of office and ready for retirement. > \*\* > It serves no purpose in putting him in jail\*\*. Imho Lots of people are in jail without a good purpose. This asshole is probably responsible for some of them. I think thumbing your nose at a federal judge is worthy of a contempt conviction and a few weeks behind bar. He’ll be okay, don’t worry. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/22 "2017-08-22T18:03:28Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Local law enforcement has always worked closely with the Feds to enforce immigration law. > > Well, until recently. Everything changed under Obama. > > Now we got cities refusing to turn illegals over to immigration. But that’s a different thread. That’s working _with_ Federal officials. Arpiao was a loose cannon doing what he wanted without authorization. State (and lower) officials have no inherent authority to enforce Federal law. The cities have no legal authority to hold someone without a warrant if they have not violated state law. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/23 "2017-08-22T18:09:32Z")
Arpiao was confrontational. I’m not surprised he finally lost an election. The sooner he fades into retirement the better. There’s no telling what Trump will do. He hasn’t pardoned anyone yet. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/24 "2017-08-22T18:18:42Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > There is a lot of tension anticipated around President Trump’s visit to Arizona this evening. It just occurred to me that Trump might decide to announce a pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio at the rally. What do you guys think? Possible? Probable? Unlikely? Not in a million years? Tension created by whom? Democrats? That’s not much of a surprise. It’s more of a “much to do about nothing” kind of event. It seems that the usual suspects have forgotten to check with Arpaio to see if he was onboard with a pending pardon. SSDD for the LSM. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/25 "2017-08-22T18:56:52Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Tension created by whom? Democrats? That’s not much of a surprise. It’s more of a “much to do about nothing” kind of event. > > It seems that the usual suspects have forgotten to check with Arpaio to see if he was onboard with a pending pardon. SSDD for the LSM. It certainly is a nothing event. They all are with this bastard. As for the pardon, I don’t really care. Accepting a pardon could be seen “as involving consequences of even greater disgrace than those from which it purports to relieve.” So says the [Supreme Court](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/236/79/case.html). ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/26 "2017-08-22T19:07:58Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > There is a lot of tension anticipated around President Trump’s visit to Arizona this evening. It just occurred to me that Trump might decide to announce a pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio at the rally. What do you guys think? Possible? Probable? Unlikely? Not in a million years? It would be within his competency. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/27 "2017-08-22T19:09:51Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Sheriff Arpaio was trying to do his job under a President that didn’t support enforcement of immigration laws. This sentence has no basis in fact whatsoever. The Obama administration deported some 3 million immigrants during his eight years. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/28 "2017-08-22T19:13:11Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Because he was a Sheriff trying to enforce immigration laws passed by Congress. > > It wasn’t his fault that it became politically unpopular. > > Congress needs to make up its mind. Repeal them or let law enforcement do its job. > > I agree the Sheriff should have backed down. Kissed the judge’s butt. > > You gotta know which way the wind is blowing, politically. Back down when required. > [@aceplace57](#): > > Local law enforcement has always worked closely with the Feds to enforce immigration law. > > Well, until recently. Everything changed under Obama. > > Now we got cities refusing to turn illegals over to immigration. But that’s a different thread. Let us just get this straight, because I don’t think you have the first clue about what was going on. A Federal court found that Arpaio was engaging in a racist policy of pulling over Latino drivers simply to check their immigration status, with no reasonable suspicion of the drivers having broken any law. The only reason these drivers were targeted was because of their race. [Link.](https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/melendres-v-arpaio-decision-sanctions-regarding-adverse-inferences-trial?redirect=racial-justice/melendres-v-arpaio-decision-sanctions-regarding-adverse-inferences-trial) Basically, some of the plaintiffs involved in this case were arrested for no more reason than being Latino and therefore being suspected, without evidence, of being here illegally, and the arrests were mistakes because they were subsequently released. The court ordered Arpaio to stop the policy of stopping people just because of their race. Arpaio then played a game of rope-a-dope, in which the policy continued, but Arpaio claimed that he couldn’t do anything to stop what his deputies were doing. He was literally lying to a Federal court over a period of several years. [Last year](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/20/us/arpaio-criminal-contempt-charges-referral/), a judge finally had enough and recommended contempt charges. There is no Federal law to detain and arrest people because their race implies that they have committed a crime. Arpaio took perfectly fine laws and twisted them to a policy that only bigots could support. And when he lied again and again and again about what he was doing, there’s no excuse for that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/29 "2017-08-22T19:27:46Z")
The most likely explanation is that Trump’s visit is about the 2018 Senate race. Incumbent Senator Jeff Flake is facing a primary challenge from Kelli Ward, a state senator. Flake is a conservative Republican. Ward is a Trump Republican. Trump has made it clear he’d like Ward to win. I’m guessing Trump is going to Arizona to throw his support behind Ward. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/30 "2017-08-22T19:33:23Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Because he was a Sheriff trying to enforce immigration laws passed by Congress. No, he wasn’t. He was stopping drivers who were American citizens because they looked Mexican. > [@aceplace57](#): > > It wasn’t his fault that it became politically unpopular. That’s true. Martin Luther King gets the credit for racism becoming unpopular. > [@aceplace57](#): > > I agree the Sheriff should have backed down. Kissed the judge’s butt. Or, as a third alternative, he could have obeyed the law. That would have kept him out of trouble. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/31 "2017-08-22T19:40:14Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Let us just get this straight, because I don’t think you have the first clue about what was going on. It’s astonishing how many of **ace’s** posts that sentence applies to. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/32 "2017-08-22T19:46:46Z")
Is this the same Phoenix rally where somebody put out a Craigslist ad for minority actors to go to a Trump rally to support Trump? There’s no evidence whether the ad was really being done by Trump or his supporters, or just a hoax, or even who put it out, but it is a real ad, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/33 "2017-08-22T19:55:42Z")
I don’t see how he doesn’t at least float the notion. He’s going to be let loose in front of a throng of his slobbering followers eager to hear him give them libs what fer. And after sniffing his way through the Afghanistan speech - his eyes riveted to those teleprompters - you know he’s aching to buck. I’m sure the Thorazine has worn off by now. He’s gonna say, “I don’t know, should I pardon Joe?” And the crowd with Sig Heil or Sig Trump or whatever they fucking do these days, giving him his little adrenaline rush. “Maybe I will, maybe I will,” he’ll feed them, bathing in their adulation. Fuck, at that point he may whip out his phone and Tweet a pardon on the spot, thinking it’s official. I harbor this little fantasy where he’s become such poison that no one shows up. Then again, I have another one that involves Scarlett Johansson and some shrink tubing so take that with a grain of salt. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/34 "2017-08-22T20:03:18Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Local law enforcement has always worked closely with the Feds to enforce immigration law. > > Well, until recently. Everything changed under Obama. > > Now we got cities refusing to turn illegals over to immigration. But that’s a different thread. Immigration law is complex, and it’s not up to local law enforcement who aren’t trained in the various aspects of it. If a member of Arapaio’s sheriff department arrested a foreign student for DUI, they aren’t going to check to see if s/he has overstayed a student visa. If the FBI arrests some bank robbers or kidnappers, they’re not going to be concerned with giving them a speeding ticket for doing 75 in a 65 in their getaway car. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/35 "2017-08-22T20:13:36Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Is this the same Phoenix rally where somebody put out a Craigslist ad for minority actors to go to a Trump rally to support Trump? There’s no evidence whether the ad was really being done by Trump or his supporters, or just a hoax, or even who put it out, but it is a real ad, apparently. Yes, and [Cambridge Antifa is a real Twitter account](https://twitter.com/cambridgeantifa). ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/36 "2017-08-22T20:16:01Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Yes, and [Cambridge Antifa is a real Twitter account](https://twitter.com/cambridgeantifa). I’m not sure I understand the connection. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/37 "2017-08-22T20:18:13Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I’m not sure I understand the connection. They’re both, imho, quite clearly faked by the other side. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/38 "2017-08-22T20:18:28Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I’m not sure I understand the connection. He is either playing the “Look! Over there!” game, or he thinks it’s o.k. to do something wrong as long as a vague example of someone else, somewhere else doing something wrong can be excavated. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/39 "2017-08-22T20:43:49Z")
According to ABC News’ Twitter, there will not be a pardon announced tonight. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376/40 "2017-08-22T20:46:43Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > They’re both, imho, quite clearly faked by the other side. I never expected the “My dog has rabies, which proves that your dog has rabies, too!” defense. Well played! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-going-to-phoonix-to-pardon-joe-arpaio/794376.md?page=3)