Trump lashes out at media in Arizona rally
PHOENIX, Arizona — President Donald Trump on Tuesday mounted an aggressive defense of his response to a deadly far right march in Virginia, using a rally speech to condemn “dishonest” media coverage of his widely criticized remarks.
Trump faced bipartisan outrage after blaming “many sides” for violence at the rally in Charlottesville that took the life of an anti-fascist protester.
Re-reading his statements following the clashes at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, he railed at reporters for misrepresenting his remarks — but omitted the equivocation that had sparked the backlash in the first place.
“The very dishonest media ... and I mean truly dishonest people in the media and the fake media, they make up stories. They have no sources in many cases,” he said.
“But they don’t report the facts. Just like they don’t want to report that I spoke out forcefully against hatred, bigotry and violence and strongly condemned the neo-Nazis, the white supremacists and the KKK (Ku Klux Klan).”
The speech came at the end of a trip to Arizona, which the White House hopes will re-energize core supporters cooling to Trump’s crisis-riddled presidency and build momentum for his plan to build a controversial border wall.
The president began his day in Yuma, touring a US Border Patrol operations base, where he chatted with border agents. He traveled to Phoenix for a raucous campaign-style rally in the evening, introduced to the crowd by Vice-President Mike Pence.
Thousands of pro and antiTrump activists had lined up
under a blistering sun in Phoenix hours before Trump’s arrival, many wearing the stars and stripes, hoping to get into the conference center.
But largely peaceful demonstrations turned unruly as police fired pepper spray at crowds after someone apparently lobbed rocks and bottles at officers.
Police have not given an estimate of the number of protesters, but Arizona media said there were several thousand. Police did not say whether the pepper spray was used on pro- or anti-Trump protesters, or both.
Border plan hits a wall
Trump’s visit to the Republican state aimed to tout the benefits of a border fence, turn up the heat on reluctant allies and demonstrate the president’s determination to realize a central campaign pledge.
Trump made the case that a wall along the 3,200-kilometer desert-scarred frontier would stem the flow of migrants from the south.
He had insisted that Mexico will pay for the wall — estimated to cost about $22 billion.
Having failed in that bid, he has turned to equally reticent Republicans in Congress to get US funding.
With his plan running into political quicksand, Trump needs to generate public pressure on reluctant lawmakers to support him.
In Phoenix, Trump told the rally crowd his message for “obstructionist” Democrats was that he was building the wall “if we have to close down our government”.