WATCH: Biden campaign launches scathing new ad: ‘Trump’s Friend, Joe Arpaio’

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio (left) is greeted by former Presidenrt Donald Trump (right) on stage at Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo by Tim King.

By Camaron Stevenson

June 8, 2024

The crowd attending a conservative political rally at an anti-LGBTQ Christian church in Phoenix Thursday was met with an unexpected admission by the event’s headliner:

“I don’t kiss men,” former president and convicted felon Donald Trump told the crowd. “But I Kiss him!”

The statement came after Trump invited ousted county sheriff, convicted criminal, and mayoral candidate Joe Arpaio on stage during his rally at Dream City Church. Trump hugged Arpaio, who he gave a presidential pardon in 2017 for being found guilty of criminal contempt after he refused to stop officers at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office from racially profiling suspects.

Trump’s relationship with the controversial figure, whose legal troubles have cost Maricopa County residents over $100 million, did not go unnoticed by the Biden-Harris campaign, which quickly produced an ad highlighting their friendship—and Arpaio’s sordid past.

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“You are the company you keep, and Trump has made his bed with the most cruel, anti-Latino people our country has seen in modern history,” said Hispanic Media Director Maca Casado. “Palling around with the guy who illegally rounded up and abused Mexicans and Latinos every chance he got should surprise no one – Trump has made attacking and vilifying Latinos his political brand.”

The ad will run in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, and showcases the Trump-Arpaio kiss repeatedly, while playing news reports detailing Arpaio’s history as “America’s toughest sheriff.”

Author

Camaron Stevenson

Camaron is the Founding Editor and Chief Political Correspondent for The Copper Courier, and has worked as a journalist in Phoenix for over a decade. He also teaches multimedia journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

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