Special Election Edition
The question isn’t why do elections matter. (They do, yes, please go vote.) But what exactly do they say?
I write this on the eve of a primary election date where Joe Arpaio, scion of “Constitutional Sheriffs,” is running yet again. (If you don’t know the history of “Sheriff Joe” Arpaio, I recommend clicking here and here.)
I am generally loath to write about Arpaio because, like Trump, he’s already gotten a lot of free press. After being ousted in 2016, pardoned by Trump, and running a failed Senate campaign, Arpaio has managed to rustle up enough out-of-town donors to support a sheriff campaign, one that most Arizona Republicans hope will disappear into thin air.
Like Trump, Arpaio is full of unconstitutional and immoral shenanigans. He’s not alone, of course, but part of a cannon of television-ready sheriffs who rejoice in masculine trappings and self-aggrandizing rhetoric that speaks to the heart of white victimization, one of many ideal totem for Trump. (Trump even got a plaque from county sheriffs, reading, “There’s a new sheriff in town.”)
It’s not just decorative trappings and racist rhetoric. Constitutional sheriffs, especially those in the West, have historically opposed the Bureau of Land Management’s priorities governing federal lands – basically, an ideological battle over land management was waged by a small – if somewhat violent – band of dissidents, like the Bundy family, who were encouraged by local sheriffs in their refusal to aid federal enforcement. Trump’s newly appointed BLM Director, the conservative anti-environmentalist William Perry Pendley, announced in an op-ed that the BLM will now defer to Constitutional Sheriffs and allow them to “use their authority to assist in the transfer of control of the land.” In other words, elected country sheriffs provide the vital assist in undoing BLM regulations.
Many sheriffs are quick to distance themselves from people like Arpaio. But, they do exist in a universe where the Arpaios are not just possible, but inevitable. By shunting Arpaio to the side, casting him to the waste bin of sheriff history, ignores that sheriffs were born of white supremacy, that their job was to snatch Black people off the street and send them away to factories, farms, and mines, with nary a word to families or friends. They were brokers of enslaved people, collecting profits for bodies.
It’s easy to dismiss Arpaio and his ilk as fringe actors. Their protests can verge on theatrical, more spite than substance. But the spectacle is the point. They are Trump’s mouthpieces and surrogates. Sheriffs can’t be easily fired, no matter how outlandish their behavior. They have nearly complete control over their counties, operating as powerful patrons and distributing retribution and praise in a capricious and self- aggrandizing manner. In them, Trump has found the perfect avatar – elected with nearly unlimited power and completely unimpeachable
Other Reading
Below are some thoughts and other reading of interest.
1) Great piece on a rural Georgia race in the Washington Post.
2) Defund the Los Angeles Sheriff, The Album.