Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump was criticized for his recent revocation of Washington Post reporter credentials for covering his events from the most unlikely of sources, Sheriff Joe Arpaio,
Politico reports.
Arpaio has endorsed Trump for president and is seen as sharing many of the real estate's mogul's main views on immigration and law and order in a similar blunt and from-the-hip style.
But Arpaio, who has been sheriff for 23 years of Maricopa County, which includes the Phoenix metropolitan area, said "Why would I bite the hand that feeds me," explaining that the public knows about his policies through the media, because he does not have the resources himself to get his message out to so many people otherwise.
Arpaio also refused to back Trump during the controversy over his statements that Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage influenced decisions he made on court cases involving Trump. He told
Fox News that his reluctance to comment on that is due to his own court battle over allegations that his department used racial profiling to illegally detain people suspected of being illegal immigrants.
But Arpaio said the public appreciates that Trump has the guts to speak his mind. He told Politico that Trump's electoral chances are better than what the polls says, because "You would be shocked by the amount of silent majority support there is for Trump"
Arpaio won his elections for sheriff over the years by tapping the same vast distrust of the establishment among working and middle class whites that Trump targets and says that the Republican candidate has hit on the correct timing to harp on the issues that are dear to the heart of that important part of the electorate.
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