From disgraceful pardons to eyelash insults, Trump toadies are rebelling against decency

Much has happened in the last couple of weeks that make me question people’s civility, common sense and decency.

In retrospect, these very public and divisive acts are not shocking or even surprising. They are simply sad testaments to the troubling mindsets that have evolved in America.

These perpetrators weren’t doing anything special or unusual. They were just being themselves, with no concern about appearances, decency, or consequences.

In Texas, the governor pardoned a man convicted of killing a Black Lives Matter protester.

In New York City, U.S. congressmen and other public servants paraded through the courthouse where Donald Trump is being tried for falsifying business records to hide payment to a porn star.

In Washington, D.C., during a House committee meeting, a Republican representative disparaged a Democratic member of the House, referring to her “fake eyelashes.”

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There was a time when elected officials would have restrained from such chicanery and questionable behavior. Those days are gone. With Donald Trump’s blatant disregard for the law, the legal system and the truth, his supporters brazenly follow in his footsteps as though they are brainwashed.

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Texas governor pardoned a racist, convicted murderer

The pardoning in Texas is disturbing. In 2020, Daniel S. Perry drove his car into a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer. Several protesters approached Perry’s car, including Garrett Foster, a 28-year-old former mechanic in the U.S. Air Force. Foster was carrying a weapon, for it is legal in Texas. Perry shot Foster dead. Perry was indicted by a grand jury, found guilty by a trial jury of 12, and in 2023 sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Yet, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to pardon Perry, a convicted killer. A recommendation from the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles, whose members were appointed by the governor, was required before he could fulfill the promise. On May 16, the board made its recommendation and on that same day, Abbott pardoned Perry – obviously with no regard to the emotional stress inflicted on the victim’s family and loved ones. For them, the pardon was a dagger in the heart.

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In addition, that pardon came despite Perry’s racist remarks and expressions of animosity toward protesters on social media. Psychological experts deemed Perry to be “basically a loaded gun.”

Travis County District Attorney José Garza, who met with the Board of Pardons and argued against the pardon, in a statement said that the governor and the pardons board had “made a mockery of our legal system. . . They have sent a message to Garrett Foster’s family, to his partner and to our community that his life does not matter,” that the grand jury and the trial jury do not matter.

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That kind of mockery of our judicial system also was evident as politicians and other Trump allies paraded to the New York courthouse to show support for Donald Trump, who is being tried on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to bury damaging stories about him before the 2016 election. Among the stories is an alleged tryst with porn star Stormy Daniels, who was silenced with a $130,000 payment.

This parade also is an effort to hijack the trial and legal system to reap a favorable verdict for Trump.

As the trial continued, Trump let it be known he wanted to see more of his allies in the courtroom. Word was circulated and the spectacle began. A senator was among the first to show up, followed by a governor, several former presidential candidates, the U.S. House of Representatives speaker, and a stream of other politicians and staunch supporters.

It is unusual that elected officials would flock to a trial of another politician who is being charged with a serious crime. Usually, politicians stay away from such situations to avoid being tainted. Yet, the actions of his trial visitors follow the way Trump operates. His disregard for the law and the legal system are well-known.

It neatly ties into his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and its consequences. This parade of followers also reflects Trump’s disregard for U.S. procedures and laws, his irreverence of anything and everything that does not benefit him and his bank accounts.

As with other aspects of his life, Trump seeks to normalize this kind of behavior with a culture of defiance. “This whole wave of denouncing the political and judicial systems helps to normalize this disrespectful behavior,” says Memphis Attorney Walter Bailey, a former Shelby County Commissioner. “This normalization set the stage for Abbott’s behavior in Texas, Trump supporters in New York, and certainly the disrespectful behavior of Marjorie Taylor Green in Washington.”

U.S. House members lob personal insults at each other

During a meeting of the House Oversight Committee, Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, told Texas U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jumped in with: “That is absolutely unacceptable. How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person?”

This interruption of the meeting manifests Trump’s influence on government protocol and manners. The New York Times reported that this incident “reflects not just the way Capitol norms have changed over the six years, but the way physical appearances have become weaponized against all genders since Donald J. Trump first took office, bringing with him his penchant for costumery, casting and playground insults.”

Trump is known for taunting his adversaries with physical insults. He has called Stormy Daniels “horseface,” E. Jean Carroll “not my type,” and Omarosa Manigault Newman a “dog.” It’s not surprising that those who worship him would resort to the same distasteful tactics.

This Trump-led rebellion against decency points to a dismal time in our nation. We all must work harder to fend off the rebels who disregard our court systems, our laws designed to safeguard order in our society, and the social norms that support human decency.

Lynn Norment, a columnist for The Commercial Appeal, is a former editor for Ebony Magazine.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Trump toadies snub decency through pardons, at court and in Congress