An Incendiary Police Nod To Trump

Cleveland has never produced a shortage of up-and-down news.  But the   politically stupid and incendiary endorsement of Donald Trump  by the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s  Association ranks as a stop-the-presses assault on continuing efforts to dissolve the division between the badges and minorities.

Quite the contrary:  It has only made matters worse since  President Steve Loomis  of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association announced the incredible move. When protests erupted, Loomis took the next poisonous (vindictive?) step by calling  such critics as Black Lives Matter, Black Shield  Association,  NAACP, the mayor and council nothing  more than hypocrites for criticizing his right of free speech while expressing their own opposition. Good luck on that, Mr. Loomis.  As  an arm of the law, you might want to consider how you might rise above the public discourse.

“It was disgusting,” declared Tim Hagan, long active in Democratic politics and former gubernatorial candidate.  ‘“It’s dividing people  when there  are a  lot of honorable policemen  trying to do their job every day.”

There have been reports that Loomis has a good  friend in Trump and that the two have been meeting  regularly.   One can only guess what might have been discussed.  But beyond the street level politics, why would a police union president take chances  as a public employee whose outreach to the community occasionally must appeal to the voters for taxpayer money, many of whom might now be driven to vote no.

Did I say stupid.   I just said it again. Free speech, you know.