“Donald Trump got himself elected in part by acting not just tough on crime but merciless. The guy loves the police and hates anyone who’s even been accused of breaking the law—thinks they’re disgusting and dangerous and don’t deserve an inch of sympathy no matter the circumstances of their offense. This is what it means to be strong in Donald Trump’s mind—a reflection, it has been persuasively argued by historian Rick Perlstein, of the formative years he spent fearing for his life in New York during the bad old 1970s and ’80s.”