THE POWER OF A DEMAGOGUE

By Robert P. Bomboy

President Donald Trump, the first demagogue ever to sit in the White House, demonstrated once again last week what it means to be a demagogue.

His presidential pardon of his political ally, the former Arizona sheriff Joseph Arpaio, used his power to block a federal judge’s effort to enforce the Constitution and showed once again his contempt for the rule of law that for 230 years has been the cornerstone of our American freedom.

The pardon sent “a dangerous message that a law enforcement officer who abused his position of power and defied a court order can simply be excused by a president who himself clearly does not respect the law,” says Vanita Gupta, former head of the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division.

In fact, the nation's most influential scholars, historians, economists, law-enforcement officials, and political scientists at the highest levels of our best universities, are gravely concerned by the president's continuing attacks on the federal courts, which - under the Constitution - represent the strongest of the checks and balances that undergird our democracy.

            The pardon interrupted and canceled the legal process under which U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton would have sentenced Arpaio on October 5.

From his very first days in office, and even before that, Trump has lashed out at federal judges, and the judiciary in general. The pardon is the first act of outright defiance against the judiciary by a president who has not been shy about severely criticizing federal judges who ruled against his businesses and policies. Experienced observers see his actions as the calculated attacks of a demagogue ready to profit from crisis.

On February 4 he vehemently railed against Judge James Robart, the federal judge in Seattle who blocked his first immigration ban, calling the widely respected Robart a "so-called judge" and questioning his credentials.

Before that, during his campaign, he had previously maligned another federal judge. In a campaign speech last summer, he devoted 12 full minutes to a personal attack on Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was presiding in a class-action lawsuit against Candidate Trump and his Trump University. In the broadside, Trump ranted that Judge Curiel was a Mexican, even though he was born in Indiana.

Besides undercutting the judiciary, the Arpaio pardon threatens our democracy because it sends signals to government agents that there exists the likelihood of a pardon if they violate a judicial injunction that blocks White House projects. Using his pardoning power, Trump can all too easily get around the only effective means to enforce constitutional restrictions on his behavior. He can even secretly promise pardons to agents if they undertake any illegal actions he may want. That is the heart of demagoguery. Indeed, tyranny.

A demagogue's intentions can exert fearsome effect. The framers of our Constitution, most of English descent, were well aware of the abuses to which a tyrant could apply his power, and they tried mightily to protect us from monarchy or dictatorship.

The possibility that Trump might embrace dictatorial powers was raised this summer in the Senate, when former FBI director James Comey said Trump's actions against him made him think of the long-ago story of the English king, Henry II.

            Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June, Comey said he shivered inside when Trump asked him privately to hold off on his investigation of the disgraced national security adviser Michael Flynn: "It rings in my ears as a kind of, ‘Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?’”

Many know the story: The king, agitated and perturbed by his former friend, Thomas à Becket, cried out, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" His knights jumped on their horses and rode off to slay Becket, cutting off the top of his head and scooping out his brains. The four killers suffered no consequences from the king for what they did.

Trump may well believe he has nothing to fear from the law. He is the president who bragged during last year's campaign that his supporters have been so loyal they would stick with him even if he stood in the middle of a busy street and shot somebody. Even polls this month show that 88 percent of Trump voters would vote for him again.