On President Trump and the Police

There will never be a "good" time to announce one's political affiliations in public.  I figure that early in this blogging endeavor will be as good a time as any.  In these deeply divided political times, it's better to just go ahead and get it out there, to rip off the Band- aid, so to speak.

I'm a registered Republican, but just barely any more.  During the 2016 primaries, I was a "NeverTrumper" and ended up voting strategically for Ted Cruz when the Kentucky caucus came around.  (One thing I will never forgive Rand Paul for is his idiotic vanity candidacy for President.  I blame him and at least a dozen of the other GOP vanity candidates in 2016 for Trump more than any other individual factor.)

At any rate, when election day rolled around in November, I found myself planning to skip voting for POTUS and to only cast a ballot for Congressman Andy Barr.  In the question of which candidate was the lesser evil between Trump and Hillary Clinton, I had decided Trump was better on balance if for no other reason than his statements in favor of law and order. 

And yet, a lesser evil is still evil.  I figured that Trump was going to win KY by double digits anyway, so he wasn't going to need my vote and I didn't need to trouble my conscience.  Pro- police rhetoric and pandering aside, I wasn't sold on Mr. Trump's supposed business acumen or in agreement with his personal morality.  I also was (and remain) unconvinced that his reputation for "fighting" that his die- hard fans seem to like so much is worth anything if he is unable to fight effectively.  So far as I'm concerned, the jury is very much out on whether or not there has been much "winning" to get tired of, as Mr. Trump promised during the campaign.

At any rate, when I arrived at my polling place I learned that Evan McMullin had made the ballot in KY, so I cast a protest vote for him against the whole stupid system and went on to work.  Like most people that day, I thought the election was going to be close, but that Hillary would easily pull it out in the Electoral College.  

And then Trump won.  Which, as a registered member of Team Red, I must admit I enjoyed very much that night.  The tears of Hillary supporters and the looks of depression on the television anchors as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania fell into Trump's column were delicious.

It's all been (mostly) downhill from there, of course, but I will happily point out one area where Mr.Trump's decency (such as it is) shines through compared to what we could have expected from Mrs. Clinton: his respect and treatment of first responders. The difference was placed into sharp relief by an incident this week in Indianapolis.

While escorting the Presidential motorcade to the airport, Ofc. Robert Turner was involved in a motorcycle crash.  Upon arriving at the airport, President Trump delayed the take off of Air Force One until he could speak to Ofc. Turner personally by telephone.  The Indianapolis PD posted video of the call to their Twitter feed.

On the other hand, Mrs. Clinton's private disrespect of law enforcement, particularly of those unfortunate enough to be assigned to her protective detail, is legendary. 

Of course, Mrs. Clinton is not alone among Democrats who share disdain for the police, as well as military service members.  Frankly, much of our current problems between police and the black community can be traced all the way back to President Obama's decision to stick his nose into a relatively minor confrontation between the police and a black home owner back in 2009.  Obama decided to opine that the "police acted stupidly," while also admitting that he knew little about the facts.  That comment pretty much set the tone for the rest of his administration when it came to law enforcement matters. 

My favorite image from the "Beer Summit" that Obama held at the White House to try to gloss over his earlier idiocy is this one:

Some wag on some right-wing website I was following at the time labeled this picture "A cop, Skip, and a chump from the White House."  I think that the picture pretty much sums up the position of law enforcement under Obama.  The officer at the center of the controversy, Sgt. James Crowley, is helping his elderly antagonist, Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, whose profligate use of the race card and life- long membership in the Coalition of the Perpetually Aggrieved touched off the whole stupid situation, down the stairs while Obama walks merrily along his way, oblivious to the damage his statements and demeanor have done to the national discourse and doing exactly nothing to actually "help." 

The difference between how Trump values those who serve and how Democrats treat them is the difference between night and day.  I certainly appreciate the change in tone.