Notwithstanding his dalliance with criminal justice reform and his castigation of law enforcement officials he says have abused their powers to target him, Donald Trump has always been inclined to "back the blue" against critics of police policies and practices. That instinct goes back decades, and it has served him well in his current incarnation as a populist politician catering to the anxieties and resentments of Americans who worry that policing has been undermined and compromised by the demands of left-wing agitators. But the latest manifestation of this theme—Trump's campaign promise to "indemnify" police officers who supposedly are paralyzed by fear of civil liability for doing their jobs—is so detached from reality that it belongs in the same category as his insistence that he actually won reelection in 2020.
"We will restore law and order in our communities," Trump said during a campaign rally in New Hampshire last Saturday. "I am also going to indemnify our police officers. This is a big thing, and it's a brand new thing, and I think it's so important. I'm going to indemnify, through the federal government, all police officers and law enforcement officials throughout the United States from being destroyed by the radical left for taking strong actions against crime."
