Trump and AG Jeff Sessions Permit Police Abuse, Fueling Protests
On Feb. 28, 2017, Attorney General Sessions told the National Association of Attorney Generals that the Justice Department would no longer monitor troubled police departments. He also plans to leave civil rights issues to the states. This includes state’s voting right issues. Obama had examined more than two dozen police programs, and obtained consent decrees from 14.
Sessions could not cancel the consent decrees approved by a court.. While Sessions dropped Chicago, it’s Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, said that they would continue with the program.
Then there were the Neo-Nazi and KKK marches which Trump took days to partly denounce, yet he never denounced the car violence that followed it.
On Aug. 25, 2017, Trump pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio who was convicted of contempt of court in violating a decree to cease stopping and arresting Latinos on grounds that they may be illegal immigrants. Arpaio also massively abused prisoners, causing some deaths.
It was these types of Trump’s policies that exacerbated a movement that had started with police departments stopping blacks and resulting in their deaths.
It is therefore ironic that Trump wants protesters of his regime’s permissive policies toward police abuse of minorities to be fired, whether by ESPN, or by NFL team owners. Trump has to realize that The Apprentice was just a show, and that he does not run all news networks and all NFL teams. Players actually have contracts and agents, as Trump should know. There is also a players union, although Trump fights against unions in his businesses.
On this weekend when Trump should be caring for our health by fashioning a bill that will not drop 32 million from healthcare because of pre-existing conditions or intentional cost increases, he is instead calling for the NFL to allow targeted head banging again, guaranteeing that ALL players subject to it will receive serious brain injuries, and well as high school and college players.
This Sunday’s demonstrations of unity among team members should remind Trump that we expect our President to bring us together, and not to tear us apart.
Trump tried to turn a protest during the national anthem to one against the flag and our country to get more sympathy. It wasn’t about these. But if you look at the flag, it represents the United States and the unity and equal treatment of 50 state stars, and the unity of the initial thirteen colonies as stripes. Trump only treated Democrats and the Blue States as part of the country recently for about three days to increase the debt limit, and for a three month budget continuation. Trump has never served our country before, and has now taken us to the brink of nuclear war, without anybody’s advise or consent.
While Trump says it is the protesters who degrade the flag and our country, it is actually Trump who degrades our country by trampling on the Constitution and the equality of all, which Trump has sworn to uphold as the sole condition for him taking his office. The protestors support our country’s ideal of equal treatment for all, and use the Constitution’s First Amendment’s freedom of speech to protest.
