I wrote Trump may have sworn off birtherism because I just don’t know. His presser yesterday, which was supposed to include a “major announcement,” mentioned Obama’s legitimacy exactly once, taking all of 10 seconds or so, while the rest of the “press conference” was an infomercial for Trump’s new D.C. hotel. He didn’t apologize for spewing the birther BS for more than five years, he didn’t admit he was wrong and knew it, he suggested birtherism started with Hillary Clinton, and the fellow who introduced him, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas Mcinnerney, is a conspiracy wackjob covered in birther slime. Yeah, Trump’s tacking to the middle: wink wink.
Here in Arizona reporters are wondering whether Trump just threw Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio under the birther bus. After all, they were the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum of birtherism for years—stoking one another’s oversized egos and political ambitions. In addition to the hard-on they both have for a border wall, Trump and Arpaio have been the loudest and most consistent birther nutballs, betting their reputations on the conspiracy and continuing the charade well after other sentient beings moved on.
Ask yourself: Why has a county sheriff in Arizona spent four years investigating the president’s birth certificate? What does the question have to do with law in Maricopa County, Arizona? Sheriff Arpaio says he started his investigation in 2012, spending considerable time and taxpayers’ money, because some constituents asked him to, which at the time brought a congratulatory tweet from Donald Trump:
“Congratulations to @RealSheriffJoe on his successful Cold Case Posse investigation which claims @BarackObama's 'birth certificate' is fake”
It’s too bad Arpaio’s constituents, mostly old and white, hunkered down in their retirement enclaves, didn’t ask him instead to investigate hundreds of sex crimes committed against children.
His deputies failed to investigate or conducted only the sketchiest of inquiries into hundreds of sex crimes between 2005 and 2007, investigations by Arizona law enforcement agencies have shown. Many of those cases involved molested children.
But then, those kids were mostly poor and Hispanic—nothing to rally the sheriff’s bigoted base.
Whenever Trump speaks in Arizona, whose primary he won decisively, Sheriff Arpaio is almost always one of the introducers, and their birther brotherhood usually makes its way into both stump speeches, where they give one another credit for keeping the lie alive.
Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio introduced Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Wednesday at a rally by reminding everyone that they were both vocal members of the "birther" movement that questioned President Barack Obama's birth certificate.
Trump may have moved beyond the birther distraction, but not Arpaio, and why should he? The conspiracy remains fertile ground here, where a majority of Republicans still believe Obama is a foreign-born secret Muslim. Arpaio recently said his investigation of the president will continue, and this week after Trump’s apparent reversal the sheriff said he’s still not convinced that Obama’s birth certificate is not a forgery.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an ally of Donald Trump, said Friday he will continue his investigation into President Barack Obama's birth certificate despite the Republican presidential candidate’s statement that the president was born in America.
Meanwhile, Arpaio’s opponent in the November election, Paul Penzone, who is within single digits of Arpaio in the polls, yesterday released a statement about the sheriff’s obsession with the president’s birth certificate:
“Here, he has a resource with a volunteer base and instead of using it for serious public-safety investigations, he is wasting it on nonsense," said Democrat Paul Penzone, a retired Phoenix police sergeant.
On top of the birther madness, next month federal prosecutors will hold a hearing to determine whether Sheriff Arpaio should face a criminal trial for contempt of court, stemming from his 2013 racial profiling conviction. He’s already been found guilty in civil court, but this next step could land his racist butt in the clinker.
In addition to the tens of millions of dollars Arpaio has cost county residents in lawsuits resulting from his illegal and unethical actions, the tab for the recent contempt trial has ballooned to $43 million, so the county ordered Arpaio to trim costs elsewhere. He canceled raises for deputies and guards, but wouldn’t close Tent City, even though inmate population is very low. Like birtherism, Tent City is part of Sheriff Arpaio’s sociopathic identity, something he just can’t quit.
So let’s do it for him: Penzone for Sheriff.