The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Staff Reports
Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 11:23 AM
President Trump Rallies In Phoenix Slamming Media For Coverage Of Comments Over Charlottesville, Arizona's Senators
The president also signaled during the Phoenix rally that he could soon pardon Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff in Maricopa County famous for his tough stance against illegal immigration.
But Trump was most animated when defending himself against accusations he wasn’t forceful enough in condemning the white supremacists and racists who were protesting in Charlottesville earlier this month. He blamed the media for distorting his comments.
At one point, the president pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket and re-read his initial statements condemning the racists involved the protests.
“Did they report that I said that racism is evil?” Trump asked of the media. The crowd yelled, “No!”
“You know why?” Trump asked. “Because they are very dishonest people.”
A 32-year-old counter-protester was killed in Charlottesville after police said a Nazi sympathizer rammed his car into a crowd. After the violence, the president faced criticism for blaming “both sides” for the unrest instead of just white nationalists.
As Trump continued to rail against the media’s coverage of him, the crowd began chanting: “CNN sucks!”
“These are sick people," Trump said of the media. "You know the thing I don’t understand? You would think … they’d want to make our country great again. And I honestly believe they don’t.”
The events in Charlottesville cast a shadow over the rally, with Phoenix’s Democratic mayor, Greg Stanton, asking Trump last week to delay his rally in wake of the violence.
The Charlottesville violence led cities across the country to consider removing Confederate statues, something Trump railed against Tuesday.
“They’re trying to take away our culture, they’re trying to take away our history,” he said.
A crowd of protesters formed outside the convention center Tuesday, but the president bragged that there were far more Trump supporters in attendance.
“All week, they’re talking about the massive crowds that are going to be outside,” Trump said. “Where are they?”
He then mocked liberal protesters who had been demonstrating.
“You know, they show up in the helmets and the black masks and they’ve got clubs and they’ve got everything,” Trump said.
Referring to the far-left militant protest group, Trump exclaimed: “Antifa!”
Leading up to the rally, it was believed Trump could announce a pardon at the rally for Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff convicted of a misdemeanor charge for not obeying a 2011 order from a judge to stop his anti-immigrant traffic patrols. Earlier Tuesday, the White House said the president would not be announcing a pardon at the rally.
