It sounds like he was his usual charming, reasonable presidential self at his "campaign rally."
btw, what sort of normal person continues having campaign rallies after he won? You'd think the president would be busy enough with governing... oh, wait....
He threatened to shut down the government if his favorite wall doesn't get built, attacked the media and Democrats, attacked the Arizona members of Congress who haven't supported him in everything, defended his Charlottesville response, suggested that he's going to pardon Arapaio again (who, by the way, also promoted the "birther" nonsense about Obama)...
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ona-speech
"Build that wall. Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it, but believe me if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall," Trump said Tuesday during a rally in Phoenix.
He repeatedly mentioned that Senate legislation aimed at hollowing out the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, had failed by one vote.... “One vote away! I will not mention any names. Very presidential, isn’t it?” Trump asked.
"Was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?” he asked, before going on to promise that “he’s going to be just fine, okay?”Apparently alluding to a pardon, Trump added, “I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy. But Sheriff Joe should feel good.”
But even his rabid supporters may be getting bored with his rants:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pos ... y-thinned/
But as the night dragged on, many in the crowd lost interest in what the president was saying.
Hundreds left early, while others plopped down on the ground, scrolled through their social media feeds or started up a conversation with their neighbors. After waiting for hours in 107-degree heat to get into the rally hall — where their water bottles were confiscated by security — people were tired and dehydrated and the president just wasn't keeping their attention. Although Trump has long been the master of reading the mood of a room and quickly adjusting his message to satisfy as many of his fans as possible, his rage seemed to cloud his senses.
Trump also claims that the white supremacists' main reason for holding a heavily armed rally in Charlottesville and marching through UVA with torches, chanting racist and anti-Jewish messages, is that they want to preserve U.S. history. And he's attacking state and local leaders who are now removing statues in response to Charlottesville. Contrary to what he implies, it's not just focused on the universities - big cities like Baltimore are doing it too:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... e-away-our
In the wake of the mayhem, Trump defended the white nationalist protesters, saying they were there to oppose the removal of a "very, very important" statue.
President Trump reaffirmed once again Tuesday his claim that activists are trying to "take away" U.S. history and culture by calling for the removal of Confederate statues. "They’re trying to take away our culture. They’re trying to take away our history," Trump said at a rally in Phoenix, Ariz. "And our weak leaders, they do it overnight. These things have been there for 150 years, for a hundred years. You go back to a university and it's gone. Weak, weak people."
Before Charlottesville, I had mixed feelings about removing statues of Lee and some other historical figures (as opposed to adding explanatory plaques or other methods to put them into context) because it smacked of revisionism. Especially after reading an article in The Atlantic about someone in Charlottesville (the mayor?) who voted not to remove them, and his discussions with the community. Even some African American leaders seemed to be opposed to the removal of Lee, for the same reason - some felt it was a move to ignore the history of slavery.
And also because certain people are acting as if removing a statue is some sort of noble act that's going to make racism go away. I suspect that it's more likely to gratuitously antagonize some people in the South who feel Lee is part of their heritage, but don't necessarily admire his slave owning (and he was apparently one of the nastier sorts of slave owners, certainly not someone who tried to be halfway decent to the people he owned).
But when Nazis and the KKK defend a statue and the president makes remarks supporting them, then I completely support removing statues in defiance. My position may not be logical, but that's how I feel. Apparently, I'm not the only one. Gov. Hogan of Maryland abruptly reversed his opposition to removing statues after the Charlottesville rally.
The Dept of Justice's very questionable request for the IP addresses of people who may have protested Trump has been dropped. Shining a light on this seems to have worked:
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity ... resistance
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is dropping its controversial request for visitor IP addresses related to an anti-Trump website.
The government said in a brief released Tuesday that it has "no interest" in the 1.3 million IP addresses related to the website disruptj20.org. It says it is solely focused on information that could constitute evidence related to criminal rioting on Inauguration Day.