In a controversial and questionable move the Friday before Hurricane Harvey struck the coast of Texas, President Trump pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio who was charged with defying a court order not to racially profile. The action set the liberal media into a tailspin. And during Sunday’s This Week on ABC, the stacked panel claimed Trump thought he was above the rule of law and was stoking racial divisions.
One of the most vocal and hyperbolic of Trump’s dissenters on the panel was pretend-Republican Matthew Dowd. “Donald Trump in his desire to destabilize the status quo … Has gone out of his way to decimate the common standards and the attributes of our country and the institutions of our country,” he decried to moderator/Clinton lackey George Stephanopoulos.
“Charlottesville was a demonstration of on how much we need a president that can heal, that can bring the country together and unify, and not benefit from racial divisions in this,” Dowd continued to rant. “And as and Donald Trump, one after another after another, decimates those institutions, we have an inability as a country to unify and fix it.”
According to Dowd, the crisis that was Donald Trump just proved how much the needed government in their lives. “Where the last two weeks have demonstrated how much we need the institutions of our government,” he lamented.
In addition to slamming Trump, ABC Commentator Roland Martin was eager to smear the “shameful” evangelicals who supported him. “What is more shameful, are these conservative evangelicals who stand with Trump, who do not condemn inhumane treatment from Arpaio,” he spat as he proceeded rattled off names of noted Christian leaders. “They are more focused on the p-r-o-f-I-t of the faith, not the p-r-o-p-h-e-t. Be prophetic voices who lead!”
A little further into the program, Stephanopoulos started to parrot Democratic lawmakers and claimed he could hear a dog whistle in the Arpaio pardon. “[It] was a signal to anyone who might be a target of Robert Mueller’s investigation, ‘I've got your back,’” he told Obama lackey Jen Psaki.
Psaki obviously agreed with Stephanopoulos’ Democratic talking point and began to claim Trump thought the law didn’t apply to him:
So it just furthers this belief that he lives above the law. That he doesn’t think that he’s all powerful. That the checks and balances that have been in place for decades, hundreds of years, don't apply to him. And that's concerning to people because people suspect there could be a need for more pardons to come for over political allies.
Dowd, eager to get the last word before the commercial, mocked Trump for “denting” the rule of law while claiming to be the “law and order candidate.” “He ran on this law and order candidate and has done his very best to try to dent the law and order of our country and the rule of law,” he quipped.
Transcript below:
ABC
This Week
August 27, 2017
9:28:56 AM Eastern(…)
ROLAND MARTIN: I do not want us to forget what Arpaio did: He racially profiled individuals. I’m not dealing with the politics. He defied a court order, that’s what he did. What Trump has been doing is pushing the racial resentment buttons of white Americans from the elections to the present day. He was also in line with the birther who was racist and shameful, his attacks on President Obama. Trump and Arpaio have yet to apologize for that. What is more shameful, are these conservative evangelicals who stand with Trump, who do not condemn inhumane treatment from Arpaio. And that’s Paula White, that’s Jerry Farwell Jr., that’s Ralph Reed. They are more focused on the p-r-o-f-I-t of the faith, not the p-r-o-p-h-e-t. Be prophetic voices who lead!
(…)
9:31:37 AM Eastern
MATTHEW DOWD: Just to drop back a little bit on this is – Donald Trump in his desire to destabilize the status quo, which needs reform and all that. Has gone out of his way to decimate the common standards and the attributes of our country and the institutions of our country. Where the last two weeks have demonstrated how much we need the institutions of our government. Charlottesville was a demonstration of on how much we need a president that can heal, that can bring the country together and unify, and not benefit from racial divisions in this. The hurricane that we’re in, is a demonstration how important the institutions of the government are. And as and Donald Trump, one after another after another, decimates those institutions, we have an inability as a country to unify and fix it.
(…)
9:39:45 AM Eastern
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Jen Psaki, you see lot of Democrats saying in the wake of this Arpaio pardon, that what that really was was a signal to anyone who might be a target of Robert Mueller’s investigation, “I've got your back.”
JEN PSAKI: Well, yes. And here's why. The process piece of this that should be concerning to people is one, he sought out his attorney general to see if he could get rid of the nasty piece of legal business against his political friend. And two, the Department of Justice was not remotely involved in the pardon, which they’ve said. That is what is very different from past presidents.
So it just furthers this belief that he lives above the law. That he doesn’t think that he’s all powerful. That the checks and balances that have been in place for decades, hundreds of years, don't apply to him. And that's concerning to people because people suspect there could be a need for more pardons to come for over political allies.
DOWD: He ran on this law and order candidate and has done his very best to try to dent the law and order of our country and the rule of law.
