Last year when Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio lost the election, people thought it would be the end of his authoritarian rule. At the same time, the nation was thrown into a state a shock with the election of Donald Trump. No one could have imagined then that President Trump would use Arpaio for his most controversial move yet, to show his contempt for the rule of law and the United States Constitution. Now, Joe Arpaio is doing the same by trolling Arizona, and the United States by threatening to run for office again.

Trump and Arpaio promote their white supremacist cause

Certainly, Arpaio is a veteran of politics and has already teased a run for Governor before. But the situation today is different following the events of Charlottesville where three people were killed by white nationalists. With America being at the halfway point of the first year of Trump's presidency, the President's controversial statements confirmed him to be a white nationalist, a supporter of white supremacy and Nazism. Those hate groups saw the President's statements as support for their cause, and with Trump's lack of effort to side with those who were attacked, they saw him driving the message to attack the Left.

Arpaio has done the same knowing very well how divisive a figure he is and using it to generate support.

Arpaio spoke with the conservative Washington Examiner last Monday where he claimed that he was getting a request from people all over the state to run against Sen. Jeff Flake who President Trump has been attacking. Arpaio taunted the public saying that he could run for anything now with the support that the President had given him through his pardon.

Going after Trump opponent Sen. Jeff Flake

His threat to run against Flake provides a peek into what a Congress with "Trumpublicans" (Republicans who side with Trump's agenda) could look like in 2018. But, given the temperament of the people of Arizona, it's likely that Arpaio's chances of winning are slim and more people now would be even more aggressive in their refusal to vote.

Overall, it looks more likely that his run would instigate a brutal political race if there were a more formidable Democratic opponent.

The President's pardon has also brought out more opposition especially from Republicans who have said outright that the President was wrong for pardoning Arpaio. Prior to the decision, President Trump's aides reportedly told him that pardoning the racism sheriff would only create more problems. And now, there are reported talks about impeachment from another Democrat. At the time of this writing, it's unknown if Arpaio is serious about a run or just seriously trolling mainstream America. It's been reported, however, that Arpaio will be in Las Vegas on September 16 at the Conservative Awards Dinner at the 2017 Conservative Leadership Conference.
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