Donald Trump is under intense political fire for his defense of Neo-Confederate and Neo-Nazi white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.
When in trouble, Trump sets up a campaign rally in a state that he won so he can appear before his cult followers and bask in their unquestioning adulation.
So naturally, Trump is coming to Phoenix where former Governor Jan Brewer defends President Donald Trump’s Charlottesville remarks, and Tea-Publicans in the Arizona legislature have uniformly voted in favor of Neo-Confederate and “Tenther” legislation for years, as we have documented at this blog. These are his people.
President Trump is scheduled to hold a campaign-style rally in downtown Phoenix next Tuesday, making his first presidential trip to the West as his administration confronts an uproar over his tepid response to a deadly white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Donald Trump makes it official: He’ll hold a downtown Phoenix rally:
Trump will take the stage at the Phoenix Convention Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m., according to an announcement Wednesday morning. Attendees must register to obtain tickets.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton wrote in a statement Wednesday he was disappointed to learn of Trump’s visit so close to the violent events in Charlottesville. The mayor called on Trump to delay the visit.
“If President Trump is coming to Phoenix to announce a pardon for former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, then it will be clear that his true intent is to enflame emotions and further divide our nation,” the statement said.
Break out those Confederate and Nazi flags! As the “Unite the Right” alt-right protestors in Charlottesville chanted, “Heil Trump!” Show us your true colors. Trump has made it acceptable for you to come out of the shadows and to let your freak flags fly.
Reliably red Arizona voted for Trump in November and has provided an enthusiastic backdrop for past rallies. But it’s also home to two of his favorite targets, Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, who are among his most vocal Republican critics.
And Flake, who is running for re-election in 2018, this month published a book critical of “Trumpism,” calling for a “rejection of destructive politics and a return to principle.” Trump has threatened to help finance a Republican challenger to Flake — saying he’d provide $10 million — but it’s unclear if he will follow through.
The visit also comes as Trump has discussed a presidential pardon for another controversial Arizona Republican, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, 85, who has been convicted of criminal contempt after a judge found he had defied a court order intended to stamp out his signature immigration patrols.
Trump told Fox News this week that he is “seriously considering” a pardon for Arpaio, who is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 5 and could spend up to six months in jail.
It is unclear which Arizona leaders will join Trump at the rally. In the past, speakers have included state Treasurer Jeff DeWit, Gov. Doug Ducey, former Gov. Jan Brewer, and Arpaio, who lost his re-election bid last year.
The Phoenix Convention Center was a familiar stop for Trump during the campaign. It’s where Trump held one of his first large campaign events, promising Arizona supporters he would help them “take our country back,” and it’s also where, in a closely-watched speech in August 2016, he detailed his plan to combat illegal immigration.
Trump is likely to focus on his race-baiting anti-immigrant positions and “making Mexico pay for the wall” in his speech. That’s what his “alt-right” nativist and racist supporters come to hear.
Trump may announce his very first presidential pardon for his racist friend, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Will Trump trash McCain and Flake then pardon Arpaio at Phoenix rally?
Oh, Trump is certain to lob personal insults against Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake. And he may announce his endorsement of Sen. Flake’s GOP primary opponent, former state Senator Kelli “Chem Trails” Ward — or will it be state Treasurer Jeff DeWit, who has not yet announced he is running? Trump headed to Arizona to endorse Jeff DeWit?
Arizona has six Confederate monuments, most built during the “Deconstruction of Reconstruction” in the Jim Crow era by the United Daughters of the Confederacy or the Sons of Confederate Veterans, as part of the revisionist history to make “the war between the states” a noble and heroic “lost cause” mythology. Here are the six Confederate monuments in Arizona.
Our Koch-bot Governor Doug Ducey has refused to take a stand on the removal of these Confederate monuments (only one is historical, the battle of Picacho Pass). Civil-rights leaders slam Gov. Ducey for Confederate monument remarks.
Will Trump defend Arizona’s Confederate monuments, as he did on Tuesday, and defend Governor Ducey for being a squish as well?
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does anyone here know what the name of the battle hymn of the republic was before it was changed to make the border states more comfortable?