Trump's efforts to get A$AP Rocky released from jail showcase his malleability and his racist opportunism, writes zakcheneyrice
Kim Kardashian West and President Donald Trump. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images President Trump was fending off another wave of racism charges last week when a gift fell into his lap. Rapper A$AP Rocky, the president learned, had been incarcerated in Sweden since early July for his role in a street fight the previous month.
But if Trump’s brief clemency record is any indication, it was always unlikely that his indulgence of the West family would undermine his political agenda — which is defined by racist opportunism. To an extent, how any president wields their power to get people out of prison reflects their political priorities, as when Andrew Johnson pardoned all Confederates after the Civil War while opposing federal guarantees for black civil rights.
Trump’s salvos were unambiguously racist, and critics identified them as such. He denied the charge, and likely saw in Rocky’s case a chance to counter it: “Many, many members of the African-American community have called me, friends of mine, and said, ‘Can you help?’” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday, in one of his more bizarre and pandering public statements.
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