PHOENIX
— Urged by supporters and critics alike to use his speech here
Tuesday to help heal the wounds of racial division stemming from the
violence that erupted at a white supremacist rally in Charlotesville,
Va., earlier this month, a defiant President Trump wound up doing nearly
the opposite.
After
defending his much-derided, evolving response to the tragic events in
Virginia, Trump spent more than 20 minutes attacking the media as
“really bad people” who “foment divisions” because they “don’t like our
country.” He disparaged both of Arizona’s Republican senators, John
McCain and Jeff Flake, though not by name: McCain for casting the “one
vote” that killed Obamacare repeal and Flake for being “weak on borders
and weak on crime.” And he all but promised to pardon anti-immigrant
icon Joe Arpaio, the hard-line former Maricopa County sheriff whose
round-’em-up raids have landed him in legal trouble.
“I’ll
make a prediction — I think he is going to be just fine,” Trump told
the tens of thousands of supporters in red “Make America Great Again”
hats who’d crowded into the cavernous Phoenix Convention Center, where
they hung on his every word.
“I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy,” Trump explained. “But Sheriff Joe can feel good.”
Ten
days after a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville ended with a
white supremacist after driving a Dodge Challenger into a crowd of
counter-protestors, injuring 19 and killing one — and with tensions
still running high after a week of equivocal responses that provoked
widespread criticism of the president from both Democrats and
Republicans — White House staffers clearly wanted to hit the reset
button in Phoenix.
The
other speakers on the program — Vice President Mike Pence, Dr. Ben
Carson, Rev. Franklin Graham, Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Martin
Luther King, Jr. — emphasized unity and equality in their remarks, and
the speech streaming across Trump’s teleprompter soberly spelled out the
“pro-worker” agenda he wants Congress to pursue in the months ahead.
But
Trump refused to stick to the script. Over 75 combative minutes, Trump
veered wildly from his prepared text as he tore into one enemy after
another, real or perceived, and hammered on every hot-button topic he
could think of.
It was Charlottesville that seemed to set him off.
After
reading a line about how “what happened in Charlottesville strikes at
the core of America” and insisting that “this entire arena stands united
in condemnation of the thugs who perpetrated violence,” Trump produced a
computer printout from his pocket and proceeded to re-litigate — at
length — last week’s back-and-forth with the press.
Click to read more: Trump defends Charlottesville response, blames media at Arizona
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