Sacha Baron Cohen duped Joe Arpaio — or did he?
More people will read about former Sheriff Joe Arpaio being duped by Sacha Baron Cohen than will have seen the show.
Which means in the end, Arpaio wins.
Because in all of the news articles and commentaries about how Arpaio fell for Cohen’s sham of a YouTube star from Finland and led Arpaio into mouthing what amounted to bizarre, raunchy sex talk, there will be a hint — just a hint — of sympathy for the 86year-old.
It’s something in our nature. We cringe at another person’s degradation, even if we believe he deserves the comeuppance.
And even if there isn’t the hint of sympathy in the coverage, even if it’s pure, unadulterated ridicule of Arpaio’s appearance on Cohen’s “Who is America?” it is the most exposure Arpaio has received, and will receive, during his entire Senate campaign.
Although “exposure” might not exactly be the right word given how the conversation with Cohen drifted into topics like “golden showers,” “hand jobs” and oral sex.
“I thought I handled myself good, but it sure didn’t look good,” Arpaio told The Arizona Republic.
About a month ago, Arpaio admitted that he’d been fooled into appearing on the show. He would have been an easy target.
Since 1992, when he first ran for sheriff, Arpaio has lived and breathed for public attention. He not only craves it; he needs it.
He’s addicted to it, he lives for it, and he used to brag about it.
In 2004, he told me, “In the last two months, I’ve had about 15 to 20 correspondents from around the world here. China. Japan. Germany. Belgium. Australia.’’
At that time, out-of-town reporters and foreign news operations were suckered in by Arpaio’s “toughest sheriff in America” routine. He never was the toughest sheriff in America, but he played the part well on TV.
After he was kicked out of the sheriff ’s office by voters, Arpaio’s last publicity high came when he was pardoned of his criminal contempt charge by President Donald Trump.
It was an opportunity to fade quietly into the shadows, but Arpaio couldn’t imagine living without being in the public eye.
So he decided to run for the Senate. For most of us, being duped by a comedian into making ridiculous, bawdy comments would be a humiliation from which we might never recover. Not Arpaio.
Like his benefactor Trump, Arpaio does not possess a mortification gene. He simply cannot be embarrassed. He agreed to an interview with what he thought was a famous foreigner, hoping it would get him some much needed publicity.
He was hoodwinked. Or was he?