On its surface, President Donald Trump’s pardon of Joe Arpaio is many things: a slap in the face of Hispanics and an affront to the rule of law as well as a nod to Trump’s alt-right base and, of course, a gift to a man who was supposed to enforce the law who instead decided to openly break it.
In reality, however, it is about much more than that. The main beneficiary here is not the man who got pardoned. After all, it was not likely that Arpaio would have ever gone to jail over his contempt of court charge.
No, as with so many things Trump does, this pardon primarily helps himself.