Trump showed disregard for police but Miami sheriff hopefuls blindly seek his support | Opinion

“Rosanna Cordero-Stutz is running to be the next Sheriff of Miami-Dade County. After 28 years of exemplary service at the Miami-Dade Police Department, Rosanna has delivered Life-Saving Results for her Community...As Assistant Director, Rosanna has proven she knows how to Crack Down on Crime, support our Great Law Enforcement, and Keep our People Safe.”

With that endorsement, former President Donald Trump got involved in the November Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s race. Shortly thereafter, another sheriff candidate, Joe Sanchez, remarked in a tweet, “The only endorsement I want is yours, the people of Miami-Dade. Join me as we work together to make Miami-Dade the safest county in our nation. Thank you, and God bless you.”

Cordero countered, accusing him of mocking Trump’s endorsement. We now have Fraizer versus Ali.

Look, I got no horse in this race. I have a great deal of respect for both Cordero-Stutz and Sanchez, not to mention a few other candidates. But this is not the gist of my opinion piece. As a retired law enforcement professional, with close to four decades of experience, who rose to the top of my profession and continues training law enforcement, I am going to speak to a concern I see very clearly.

There appears to be a desire to kiss Trump’s ring.

I get it; running for sheriff is political. But what happens when the endorsement comes from a person who absolutely counters what law enforcement stands for?

Let us return to Jan. 6, 2021. Our House was attacked. The second and third people in succession for the president of the United States were threatened with great bodily harm and death. Despondent and violent people responded to the urging of their president, who still had two weeks left to his lame duck presidency to wreak havoc.

“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said at the time.

And attack they did. The Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police of Washington D.C. held the line, though the assault was vicious and brutal. Trump did not call off “the hounds” until far after a more prudent person many have, despite pleas for immediate decisive action.

Why are local law enforcement professionals fawning over the endorsement of a man who obviously couldn’t care less about their brethren: my brothers and sisters of blue and brown?

And still, Trump doubles down even to this day. In November 2023, Trump declared “I call them J6 hostages, not prisoners. I call them hostages, what happened, and it’s a shame.” Fast forward to March in Waco, Texas: “Our people love those people. If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly...and if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly.”

When it came time for a congressional medal for the police who held the line, in June 2023, 21 Trump sycophants voted against it.

Does this even matter to the Miami-Dade Sheriff candidates? It should. I am not sure how one condones a person who aided and abetted an attack on police, coveted endorsement or not.

Sadly, I sense a pattern here: “Yeah, but that was so long ago.”

And that is my fear.

David Magnusson is a retired El Portal police chief with 36 and a half years of law enforcement experience, having spent 30 of these years with the Miami Police Department and retiring as an assistant chief.