Trump defends Charlottesville response, attacks media in rant
SPEAKING OFF SCRIPT US President threatens ‘obstructionist Democrats’ he will shut down government to build Mexico wall
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday mounted an aggressive defence of his response to a deadly far-right march in Virginia, using a rally speech to condemn “dishonest” media coverage of his widely criticised remarks.
Trump faced bipartisan outrage after blaming “many sides” for violence at the rally in Charlottesville, in which one anti-fascist protester was killed.
Re-reading his statements that followed the clashes, he railed at reporters at the rally in Phoenix, Arizona, for misrepresenting his remarks — but omitted the equivocation that had sparked the backlash in the first place.
Trump dedicated about half an hour of his 78-minute speech to attacking the “sick people” in the news media, before turning his fire on his own side.
The speech was cheered raucously by supporters inside the conference centre, though thousands of anti-Trump protesters, who had lined up under a blistering sun in Phoenix hours before Trump’s arrival, later clashed with police outside the venue.
Speculation had been building that Trump would use the rally to formally endorse a challenger to Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, a moderate incumbent, in a shot across the bow of sceptical Republicans.
He mocked both Flake and fellow Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, implying that McCain had sabotaged Republican healthcare reforms, but elaborately avoided mentioning either by name.
Veering off script, Trump shied away from issuing a pardon for Joe Arpaio -- a former sheriff in Arizona who was convicted of wilfully violating a court order to stop targeting Hispanics in immigration roundups.
His visit to Arizona aimed to tout the benefits of a border fence with Mexico, turn up the heat on reluctant allies and demonstrate his determination to realise a central campaign pledge.
Trump had insisted that Mexico would 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.
But with his plan running into political quicksand, Trump is trying 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.”
The freewheeling speech left some critics dumbfounded, with former national intelligence director James Clapper questioning Trump’s fitness to lead and his access to the country’s nuclear codes.