United States President Donald Trump's rallies are usually boisterous affairs and the president usually makes statements that make it to the headlines the next day. His rally in Virginia yesterday was no different as the president made some statements that were alarming and controversial at the same time. In a remarkable speech, he threatened to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and went on to talk about the idea of pardoning infamous Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Usual diatribe
Donald Trump's rally in Virginia yesterday seemed to be a rerun of the many issues that he rails against at almost every other rallies and the usual diatribe included a dig at the media, the Democrats and the Mexican wall among other things.
However, this time he seemed to go in hard on Mexico and Canada as Trump felt that it was becoming increasingly difficult to negotiate a favorable deal with those two countries. He went on to say that if a deal cannot be struck that he will have no option but to terminate NAFTA altogether. Needless to say, it is a pretty big statement.
However, on the matter of the border wall with Mexico, the president issued an even bigger threat. Considering the fact that it was one of his campaign promises, it is understandable that Trump continues to speak about it. He had promised that he would force Mexico to pay for it but nothing has yet come to pass and the president blamed the "obstructionist Democrats" for the impasse.
He threatened that he would shut down the government if they did not go along with his plans.
Offends Latinos
The President, however, did manage to end up saying something deeply offending Latinos. He stated that he was considering a pardon for the controversial former sheriff of Arizona Joe Arpaio. Arpaio is infamous for detaining random people who he suspected of being illegal immigrants and had been ordered by a judge to stop from indulging in such practices.
However, his refusal to comply with the order saw him being convicted of criminal contempt last month.
Trump had earlier told Fox News that he was seriously considering a pardon for Joe Arpaio and he continued in the same vein yesterday. He told the crowd, “So was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job? You know what, I’ll make a prediction, I think he’s going to be just fine, okay? But I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy. But Sheriff Joe should feel good.”
