Interpreting Trump's Shout-Out to Arpaio - Trump is Going to Commute Arpaio's Sentence [View all]

[TomCADem]

A pardon wipes out the conviction while a commutation leaves the conviction intact but wipes out the punishment. I am sure Trump's racist base wants Trump to outright pardon Joe Arpaio so that he can perhaps run again. However, I am sure that more vulnerable Republicans are arguing that Trump should just commute Arpaio's sentence so that they have a fig leaf to hide behind: "See, Trump has moderated, since he wiped out Arpaio's sentence, but left the conviction intact. See? Trump is a moderate." The only issue is whether Arpaio will complain about being treated like Scooter Libby.