Trump makes a mess for Arizona GOP with Arpaio pardon
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n just nine days, President Donald Trump might have badly hobbled Arizona Republicans headed into a competitive Senate race and hurt his own re-election prospects in the state.
Trump's efforts to unseat Sen. Jeff Flake in the state's 2018 Republican primary have left Trump's allies confused and divided over which of several possible anti-Flake candidates should get their support.
And the President's decision to pardon controversial former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio – quietly, on a Friday night, with Hurricane Harvey set to make landfall in Texas as a Category 4 storm -- handed Democrats such a potent tool to turn out Latino votes that it might not matter who the GOP puts on the ballot.
Pardoning Sheriff Joe is the absolute epitome of Trumpism
Pardoning Sheriff Joe is the absolute epitome of Trumpism
The Arpaio pardon is sure to please Trump's base -- particularly those who favor a strict crackdown on immigration, many of whom attended his campaign rally Tuesday night in Phoenix, the Maricopa County seat.
But it also could come at a steep political cost.
While Maricopa is one of the few major urban counties in the United States that still backs Republican presidential candidates, Trump won by a paltry 3.4 percentage points there -- much worse than the 12 points by which Mitt Romney bested former President Barack Obama in the county in 2012.
Trump took the state by just 3.5 points -- a smaller margin of victory than the traditional swing states of North Carolina, Iowa and Ohio.
Arpaio, meanwhile, was easily ousted last year after 24 years in office as Maricopa County sheriff. Democratic challenger Paul Penzone won 56% to Arpaio's 44%.
That means a substantial share of Trump's supporters in Maricopa County -- more than enough to swing the key county, which made up about half of Trump's margin of victory and the entire state -- voted against Arpaio last year.
Why Joe Arpaio was found guilty
Why Joe Arpaio was found guilty
Arpaio is a deeply controversial figure, in part for his immigration sweeps that targeted Latino neighborhoods and the conditions in his county jail, which included an outdoor "Tent City" in the Arizona desert. He was convicted of criminal contempt last year for defying a 2011 court order to stop detaining people based on suspicion of their immigration status with no evidence those people had committed another crime.
"Regarding the Arpaio pardon, I would have preferred that the President honor the judicial process and let it take its course," Flake tweeted Friday night, in an acknowledgment of the political fallout of Trump's pardoning of Arpaio.
Arizona's senior senator, Republican John McCain, said in a statement on the pardon that "no one is above the law and the individuals entrusted with the privilege of being sworn law officers should always seek to be beyond reproach in their commitment to fairly enforcing the laws they swore to uphold."
"Mr. Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt for continuing to illegally profile Latinos living in Arizona based on their perceived immigration status in violation of a judge's orders," McCain said. "The President has the authority to make this pardon, but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions."
Phoenix reacts to ex-Sheriff Arpaio's pardon
Phoenix reacts to ex-Sheriff Arpaio's pardon 01:39
Democrats, meanwhile, came out swinging hard Friday night.
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat preparing to run for the Senate against Flake in 2018, tweeted: "I am dismayed by the President's decision to pardon Joe Arpaio. Arpaio hurt Arizonans & cost taxpayers a great amount of grief & money. He should be held accountable. No one is above the law."
"Prejudice doesn't deserve a pardon," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez. "Donald Trump just gave a free pass to his buddy Joe Arpaio, the nation's most notorious agent of racism and bigotry, during a natural disaster that could hurt millions. That's not presidential, that's a coward."
Trump had teased that the Arpaio pardon was coming at his campaign rally in Phoenix on Tuesday night.
At the same rally, he took a shot at Flake without mentioning him by name, calling the Republican senator "weak on borders, weak on crime" and claiming "nobody knows who the hell he is."
But Trump, who has wanted Flake ousted since 2016, telling Arizona Republicans before the election that he'd spend $10 million of his own money against the senator, might have complicated that task, too. -
You guys… always spreading rumors. This is what Trump's base wanted, there is no division. Arpaio was a victim of a political witch hunt because he proved that Obama's birth certificate was a fraud - ACTUALLY really proved it, he supported Trump, and he arrested ILLEGALS - he actually enforced the law. He was convicted by a LIBERAL judge who had a bias against him. The Trump supporters are in no way divided over this whatsoever.
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n just nine days, President Donald Trump might have badly hobbled Arizona Republicans headed into a competitive Senate race and hurt his own re-election prospects in the state.
Trump's efforts to unseat Sen. Jeff Flake in the state's 2018 Republican primary have left Trump's allies confused and divided over which of several possible anti-Flake candidates should get their support.
And the President's decision to pardon controversial former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio – quietly, on a Friday night, with Hurricane Harvey set to make landfall in Texas as a Category 4 storm -- handed Democrats such a potent tool to turn out Latino votes that it might not matter who the GOP puts on the ballot.
Pardoning Sheriff Joe is the absolute epitome of Trumpism
Pardoning Sheriff Joe is the absolute epitome of Trumpism
The Arpaio pardon is sure to please Trump's base -- particularly those who favor a strict crackdown on immigration, many of whom attended his campaign rally Tuesday night in Phoenix, the Maricopa County seat.
But it also could come at a steep political cost.
While Maricopa is one of the few major urban counties in the United States that still backs Republican presidential candidates, Trump won by a paltry 3.4 percentage points there -- much worse than the 12 points by which Mitt Romney bested former President Barack Obama in the county in 2012.
Trump took the state by just 3.5 points -- a smaller margin of victory than the traditional swing states of North Carolina, Iowa and Ohio.
Arpaio, meanwhile, was easily ousted last year after 24 years in office as Maricopa County sheriff. Democratic challenger Paul Penzone won 56% to Arpaio's 44%.
That means a substantial share of Trump's supporters in Maricopa County -- more than enough to swing the key county, which made up about half of Trump's margin of victory and the entire state -- voted against Arpaio last year.
Why Joe Arpaio was found guilty
Why Joe Arpaio was found guilty
Arpaio is a deeply controversial figure, in part for his immigration sweeps that targeted Latino neighborhoods and the conditions in his county jail, which included an outdoor "Tent City" in the Arizona desert. He was convicted of criminal contempt last year for defying a 2011 court order to stop detaining people based on suspicion of their immigration status with no evidence those people had committed another crime.
"Regarding the Arpaio pardon, I would have preferred that the President honor the judicial process and let it take its course," Flake tweeted Friday night, in an acknowledgment of the political fallout of Trump's pardoning of Arpaio.
Arizona's senior senator, Republican John McCain, said in a statement on the pardon that "no one is above the law and the individuals entrusted with the privilege of being sworn law officers should always seek to be beyond reproach in their commitment to fairly enforcing the laws they swore to uphold."
"Mr. Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt for continuing to illegally profile Latinos living in Arizona based on their perceived immigration status in violation of a judge's orders," McCain said. "The President has the authority to make this pardon, but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions."
Phoenix reacts to ex-Sheriff Arpaio's pardon
Phoenix reacts to ex-Sheriff Arpaio's pardon 01:39
Democrats, meanwhile, came out swinging hard Friday night.
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat preparing to run for the Senate against Flake in 2018, tweeted: "I am dismayed by the President's decision to pardon Joe Arpaio. Arpaio hurt Arizonans & cost taxpayers a great amount of grief & money. He should be held accountable. No one is above the law."
"Prejudice doesn't deserve a pardon," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez. "Donald Trump just gave a free pass to his buddy Joe Arpaio, the nation's most notorious agent of racism and bigotry, during a natural disaster that could hurt millions. That's not presidential, that's a coward."
Trump had teased that the Arpaio pardon was coming at his campaign rally in Phoenix on Tuesday night.
At the same rally, he took a shot at Flake without mentioning him by name, calling the Republican senator "weak on borders, weak on crime" and claiming "nobody knows who the hell he is."
But Trump, who has wanted Flake ousted since 2016, telling Arizona Republicans before the election that he'd spend $10 million of his own money against the senator, might have complicated that task, too.You need to be more concise in making your points.
One thing I spotted in your message was that Republican Jeff Flake might lose his senate seat. Jeff Flake is not really a republican, neither is John McCain and two women "republican" senators. Losing them is not really a loss… it makes space for real republicans. -
I don't know the bit about Obama's birth cert.
What I do know is that he was found guilty of contempt of court for arresting illegals for being illegal. The judge banned him from enforcing immigration laws.
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I don't know the bit about Obama's birth cert.
What I do know is that he was found guilty of contempt of court for arresting illegals for being illegal. The judge banned him from enforcing immigration laws.
I never considered WHY Arpaio did what he did. I guess he was having a tug of war with the judge over enforcement of laws.
It's interesting that major figures are often taken down on ridiculous charges rather than legitimate charges.
The best example of that is probably Al Capone being put away for tax fraud (even though he argued that he could not pay taxes on income that he could not report because it was illegal). He was not put away for the criminal acts.. he was put away for not paying taxes on the proceeds from the criminal acts! -
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It's nonsense like mhorndisk's that gets this forum a bad name.
I claim my red bar
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…The judge banned him from enforcing immigration laws.
No, he didn't.
There are laws against illegal immigration, the judge prevented him from enforcing those laws. So how can you say "No, he didn't".
Are you saying that illegal immigration laws don't exist?
Are you saying that Arpaio wasn't trying to enforce immigration laws?
Or, are you saying that the judge didn't stop Arpaio from enforcing the immigration laws? -
If you bothered to read what was said.
The judge didn't ban him for enforcing laws. Is this part of the deflection that someone else talked about?
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This is 30 minutes of the press release from Arpaio showing the "9 points of forgery" behind the birth certificate on 12/15/16. I know that's too long for you ADD liberals who don't want to hear the Truth. I'm not sure why I'm posting this - because you guys obviously pretended it didn't exist the first time. You vanish every time facts are presented. They have presented the evidence, it took five years to discover, and it is clear as day. They asked experts from all over the world help with this.
Not ONE single liberal has tried to argue about this - instead they just scream RACIST!!! Liberals don't know how to be objective or rational. They found the birth certificate of the person he copied it from, and the lead investigator was actually a democrat who supported Obama, and just did this because he wanted to prove it wasn't True. But to his utter dismay and shock - he presents the 9 points of forgery and explains exactly how it was done. THIS is the main reason Arpaio was convicted.
EDIT:
I'd like to ask which one of the 9 points of forgery discovered you think are wrong and why. Otherwise, you have no standing and I am certain you will not answer - and as per usual, vanish due to the inconvenience that factual information has on your false narrative / world view / feelings. -
This is 30 minutes of the press release from Arpaio showing the "9 points of forgery" behind the birth certificate on 12/15/16. I know that's too long for you ADD liberals who don't want to hear the Truth. I'm not sure why I'm posting this - because you guys obviously pretended it didn't exist the first time. You vanish every time facts are presented. They have presented the evidence, it took five years to discover, and it is clear as day. They asked experts from all over the world help with this.
Not ONE single liberal has tried to argue about this - instead they just scream RACIST!!! Liberals don't know how to be objective or rational. They found the birth certificate of the person he copied it from, and the lead investigator was actually a democrat who supported Obama, and just did this because he wanted to prove it wasn't True. But to his utter dismay and shock - he presents the 9 points of forgery and explains exactly how it was done. THIS is the main reason Arpaio was convicted.
EDIT:
I'd like to ask which one of the 9 points of forgery discovered you think are wrong and why. Otherwise, you have no standing and I am certain you will not answer - and as per usual, vanish due to the inconvenience that factual information has on your false narrative / world view / feelings.History will show that Obama's birth certificate was a forgery. That is why moonbats hate history.
These four links both corroborate and add to what you posted:
UPDATE: I have analyzed the birth certificate.. and the conclusion is that the certificate itself is not what the Obama government said it was. I avoid OPINIONS like the plague, because people stick to their opinions and it is futile to waste time debating opinions. I stick to absolute facts. There are a lot of controversial opinions about the digital "layers" of the document. The reason there are layers is that the document has been digitally processed to create a small file - and in the process, producing layers - and losing the uniqueness of the document. Processing the image created patterns and layers. The Obama government said that the image was a "FLAT" image, which means no layers, and that it was not digitally converted / processed. That image of the certificate is ABSOLUTELY 100% NO DOUBT digitally processed - contrary to what Obama said. One might ask WHY? And WHY did he LIE about it being processed? Where is the original piece of paper of this certificate? Who has it? Why was it never produced? Oh wait, I forget.. the woman that certified that it was authentic mysteriously died a year after certifying it.. being the only one who died in a plane crash in which the other 20 people had no significant injuries.
As for the "angles" of the dates, they ARE an exact match for that other birth certificate, however, since were about 9000 certificates between those two.. finding two with the same angles is not unusual.
What is much more valid is the FACT that Obama did not even produce a birth certificate until 1.5 years AFTER he was elected.
Obama was raised in islamic Indonesia by a prominent muslim cleric until the age of 13.
Obama's own half brother produced an ACTUAL birth certificate on paper from KENYA.. not a digital image. The Kenyan birth certificate of Obama has an EMBOSSED seal on it.
Here's a fact that got totally ignored.. while in college.. Obama ADMITTED to using cocaine - rather than have other people reveal that for him. Excuse me, but using cocaine is a felony… which makes him ineligible to practice law.. so should have been disbarred. And he sure should never have been president.
Obama's closest pal and mentor was a known terrorist, whom he only distanced himself from when he decided to run for president.
Obama's presidency was a total failure, he did not fulfill any of his promises. He didn't get the troops out of anywhere.. and wars re-ignited rather than faded away.. and we now have Obama's baby - ISIS! I supposed Obama would like to take credit for same-sex marriages - but that wasn't due to him.. he just jumped on the bandwagon after several states individually make same-sex marriages legal.The bottom line.. Obama should never have been elected. His candidacy and presidency was a lie and a fraud. He did nothing to make the county better for anybody - including blacks. Those confederate statues were all sitting there on their pedestals during the entire presidency of Obama.. Obama did nothing about it. Suddenly when TRUMP is president, those statues are a problem!
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To be biased and to analyze the counterclaims:
Some of the dingbats have said in the comments for these videos that it was the OTHER birth certificate that was forged to make it LOOK like Obama's was forged. While this is a wonderfully deceptive argument, certain information totally contradicts this:
A:) The woman who's BC was forged was interviewed
B:) Her birth certificate was verified as legit by the State
C:) Michelle (Michael?) said he was from Kenya at least twice
D:) What motive would Joe have to do that? Oh-He's just being racist
E:) It would require blotting the ink perfectly (not the background) instead of fading the replica (easy)The only piece of the puzzle left is that they claim that "one of" the Newspapers declared his birth, which I am not sure of, but I don't think so.
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Erm, does it matter. I don't think Obama is president any longer
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Yep. It matters. I love how you ask "does it matter," when factual proof is presented. Way to not answer the question about which of the 9 points of forgery you think are wrong and why! Typical, but not unexpected.
The reason it matters is because it proves that all along Obama was a fraud, and you guys threw racism in our face, but when it comes to answering whether or not he actually was a criminal - we're just racist, when we are analyzing factual information.
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If you bothered to read what was said.
The judge didn't ban him for enforcing laws. Is this part of the deflection that someone else talked about?
Typical leftist rubbish.
The judge prohibited him and his deputies from enforcing immigration laws. That is why he was found guilty of contempt of court.
Please stop SJWing words to suit your needs.
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LOL! :crazy2: You nailed it again. How do you always do that Raph???
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The judge prohibited him and his deputies from enforcing immigration laws.
No he didn't. Please check your facts
So, another red bar for me :cheers:
Another brown nose for mhorndisk, perhaps
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…when factual proof is presented...
That is opposed to the fictional proof we see so much of. Next you'll be explaining the difference between real facts and unreal facts
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Erm, does it matter. I don't think Obama is president any longer
While president.. Obama was able to cover his ass with a corrupt Attorney General, etc.
Now that the Obama regime is mostly gone, the truth is now emerging. -
…when factual proof is presented...
That is opposed to the fictional proof we see so much of. Next you'll be explaining the difference between real facts and unreal facts
Way to evade answering the question, as I accurately predicted you would, because you cannot be inconvenienced by factual information. I'll ask one more time. Which of the 9 points of forgery are "fictional proof," and why?
