From Goldwater to Trump, the long history of ‘Law and Order’ politics – By Peter Grier and Noah Robertson (CS Monitor) / Sept 3 2020
A government’s most basic role is to provide stability and safety. But ‘law and order’ can mean more than that when invoked in political campaigns. Often, it’s an implicit defense of the status quo against change.
President Donald Trump is fond of blunt campaign slogans. In 2016, it was “Make America Great Again,” “Build the Wall,” “Lock her up!”
In 2020, it’s “Law and Order.”
With the presidential election barely two months away, President Trump appears to have settled on a defining theme for his campaign – one that has a deep and controversial history in American politics.
“I am your president of law and order,” the president said in June, as law enforcement used chemical sprays and flash grenades to clear Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. “LAW AND ORDER!” has been a staple all-caps tweet for Mr. Trump for months.
On its face the slogan is an appeal to voters unsettled by images of looting and arson in some cities rocked by protest-related violence. It’s hardly a new stance for the president, who has used law-and-order rhetoric since he was a young real estate developer in the crime-ridden New York of the 1970s.
Continue to article: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2020/0902/From-Goldwater-to-Trump-the-long-history-of-Law-and-Order-politics
