Trump’s adolescent, exaggerated and dishonorable view of police and military authority might be attributed to over-compensation for his lack of physical courage and military service. It might stem from his total lack of appreciation of our democratic values. Never forget, however, that the most important consideration for Trump is Trump. The determination as to whether someone is deserving or a “good guy” is whether he supports Trump. In this case, Arpaio supported Trump in his birtherism and cruelty toward immigrants. He is a good guy in Trump’s eyes. Trump chooses his own personal and legal interests over any concern for the larger message his actions sends to the country.

To make matters worse, we learn that Trump went directly to his attorney general (just as he allegedly went to James B. Comey about Michael Flynn) trying to get the case against his friend dropped. Trump has learned nothing about potential obstruction of justice, it seems. When it is his guy whose gotten caught he wants him cleared. Period.

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We have come to expect Trump to identify with the most lawless, most bigoted elements in the country. He is not about leading or unifying the country. He’s about protecting his guys, especially if it enrages the rest of the country. If one thinks of Trump as a mafia don — sociopathic, motivated either by loyalty or by vengeance, fascinated by violence — one can understand why his actions are never in line with platitudes about healing, unifying or improving the lives of ordinary Americans. He cannot fathom that the latter is his job, not protecting himself or fellow race-baiters.

Trump’s defenders deny he is a racist, but that’s no longer a plausible characterization of the man who rose to fame on birtherism, incited white grievance and resentment throughout his campaign, stereotyped African American life as invariably violent and hellish, tried to ban Muslims and has approved inhumane deportation procedures that tear apart families. He thinks neo-Nazis include some “fine people” and seeks to ally himself with a modern day Bull Connor. (This is same man who is still convinced that the African American youths dubbed the Central Park Five are guilty.) When race is an issue he always comes down on the side against the oppressed, never their oppressors. It defies the law of averages and decades of his public life to conclude he is not motivated by racial animosity, resentment and/or stereotyping.

Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times observed, Trump “believes that this country, in some ways, was originally a white country and originally is a country that is now kind of pushing away its culture and that southern culture.” She noted that in Phoenix “he said that people are trying to take away our history and our heritage. And I think there, in that window when he says that, what he’s talking about is the original idea of America.”

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In the pardoning of Arpaio widespread condemnation from Republicans suggested a mild course correction, but not a dramatic one. Yes, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s written statement declared, “The Speaker does not agree with this decision. Law enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States. We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon.” But just as they took no official action to censure the president after his handling of Charlottesville, Republicans will again respond with nothing more than tut-tutting and head-shaking. Economic adviser Gary Cohn no doubt will be greatly disturbed and disgusted, but as he did after Charlottesville, not resign. (How is leaking your anguish anything but cowardice and self-rationalization? If you are going to leak and bad mouth your boss, you might as well quit.) Their personal anguish, such as it is, does not concern us nor excuse their complicity.