So last Friday, President Trump decided to pardon controversial Arizona Sheriff, Joe Arpaio.
Arpaio was convicted of contempt of court, for refusing to back down from "racially profiling" latinos. Frequently having them stopped in their vehicles, without breaking any laws, simply because they might be illegal immigrants. It's not the job of local Sheriff's stations to handle illegal immigration. That's the job of Border Patrol, and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
He was scheduled to be sentenced on October 5th, and if given the maximum would serve 6 months in prison.
President Trump decided to circumvent the courts, by handing Arpaio a pardon, without him having sat 1 day in prison. Nobody disputes that the President has the power to pardon as he sees fit, but it's generally done when people have been in prison for many years, or to correct an injustice (innocent people wrongly incarcerated). It is not usually done, when the recipient of the pardon is a bigtime supporter and who shares many of your values and opinions. Arpaio, along with Trump were the forefathers of the "Birther movement" which frequently criticized President Obama as being non-American, and having a false birth certificate.
When asked, why he chose specifically to announce the pardon this past Friday (in the midst of Hurricane Harvey, bearing down on Texas), Trump said...
I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally.
Now, many on the right will no doubt call this comment out as being #FakeNews. Sadly, the above quote was taken verbatim.
This "President" is more concerned about ratings, and attendance at his rallies than actually being Presidential.