The commander in chief’s authority does not extend to America’s police forces. And that’s a very good thing because President Donald Trump seems to think it’s OK to punch out political dissidents and for police to abuse suspects in their custody.
The commander in chief’s authority does not extend to America’s police forces. And that’s a very good thing because President Donald Trump seems to think it’s OK to punch out political dissidents and for police to abuse suspects in their custody.
Speaking to law enforcers in New York last Friday, Trump suggested that they perhaps are a little too kind to the people they arrest for serious crimes. He suggested that sometimes a little roughing-up might be in order. He mimicked the way police officers typically cover the head of handcuffed suspects before putting them in the back seat of a squad car.
“And when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon — you just see them thrown in, rough — I said, please don’t be too nice,” Trump said, apparently diverting from his written text.
“Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody — don’t hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away. OK?”
No, not OK. Not anywhere close to OK.
The White House claimed Monday that Trump was joking. If so, it wasn’t funny. And given the current heightened tension over police abuse, Trump had no business making fun of the crucially important topic of civil rights. The acting chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration took the comments so seriously, he publicly disavowed them as “wrong.”
Any president or other official who would make such remarks clearly doesn’t understand the fundamentals of American jurisprudence. All suspects, whether arrested for jaywalking or murder, are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. The burden rests entirely on the prosecution to prove a suspect’s guilt. The suspect does not have to prove his or her innocence.
Police officers have no explicit or implied permission to rough up suspects or administer street justice just because they’re convinced of a suspect’s guilt. Giving them such permission would unleash a cascade of abuses.
We can think of no quicker way to undermine public faith in the law enforcement system than for the president to be seen advocating deliberately rough treatment of those in police custody.
At what point will this president begin to understand that his words influence others’ actions and can lead to severe consequences? Trump is utterly incapable of apologizing, we know. But this is one instance where he should retract his own impromptu remarks and learn to stick to his script.
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch