This is not my favorite rhetorical feint:

There is nothing illegal with cops making campaign contributions — they fall squarely within an employee’s protected First Amendment rights and the NYPD does not monitor them, a police source said.

But Osgood’s donations don’t look good given his rank and command, according to a former high-ranking NYPD chief.

“Of course there’s freedom of speech, but…” Argh.

The context, in the New York Daily News:

Four days after President Trump was caught on tape boasting about grabbing women “by the p—y,” the high-profile head of the NYPD’s sex crimes division donated $500 to his campaign committee.

Deputy Chief Michael Osgood, commander of the Special Victims Division, went on to make 10 more contributions — a total of $2,810 over six weeks — to Trump’s campaign committees…

A NYPD deputy chief makes somewhere in the lower six figures, which means Osgood donated about a week’s pay to a single political campaign. That’s an unusual amount of commitment, and I’m mildly curious as to what caused it. Republican pro-cop rhetoric? Fear and loathing of the Clintons and/or Democrats? Or something less savory?

Very mildly curious. An amount of curiosity that could be mistaken for indifference at even a short distance. Beyond a vague interest in why people think differently than I do, I just can’t bring myself to care that some rando donated money to Trump.

I might be in the minority on that. The article goes on to quote three “women’s advocacy” spokespeople saying things like “deeply troubling,” “emblematic,” and “complicit.” And people who love and trust government (for some reason) but can’t stand Trump are probably overwhelmed that one of their designated heroes betrayed them.