Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos sat down with “America’s Toughest Sheriff” Joe Arpaio last week to discuss pink underwear, sanctuary cities, and the size of Donald Trump’s heart.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona discussed the intersection of his career in law enforcement with his career in politics. Arpaio, who has introduced Donald Trump at several of his campaign rallies, is considered to be one of the Republican front-runner’s closest allies.
Arpaio is perhaps most famous for his decision to force the inmates of Maricopa County to wear pink underwear, a change he implemented to combat an issue with prisoners stealing underwear upon their release. According to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office website, Arpaio’s decision to move to pink underwear drastically reduced theft and saved county taxpayers over $70,000 in the first year that the change was implemented.
Yiannopoulos pressed Arpaio about the immigration issues facing America and asked how his experience as the Sheriff of Maricopa County has influenced his perspective on the subject. He claimed that sanctuary cities “[cover] up violations of the law,” and claimed that “it sets a bad example” for other types of criminal violations to be excused. He condemned Sen. Ted Cruz’s plan to take away federal funding from sanctuary cities, and instead suggested cutting off foreign aid to the home countries of offending parties.
Arpaio detailed the history of his own parents entering America legally after leaving Italy. He questioned progressives who seem willing to provide a pathway to citizenship for Mexican immigrants, while asking immigrants from geographically-inconvenient countries like “Greece or Turkey” to spend “years ” and thousands of dollars in legal fees to come to America.
“It might take five years to come into the U.S. [from Greece or Turkey]. Yet you can cross the border and you can get special attention?” Arpaio asked.
In the political world, Arpaio has been a honorary chairman for the George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, and Rick Perry presidential campaigns. Based on this experience, Arpaio claimed that the political establishment in 2016 has been particularly nasty to Donald Trump. He alluded to his belief that party elites might be fearful that Trump is the most likely candidate to take the nomination away from their establishment alternative.
Sheriff Joe noted that when he went to his first Trump rally, no politician “wanted to go near him,” but he was thronged by 10,000 fans at the event.
Sheriff Joe also expressed disappointment with the Republican Party (he also noted he’ll never leave the GOP). They’re “playing games” to stop Trump, he said. They’re “trying everything to ensure he doesn’t become president,” he continued. “Our own party? That’s not right. Maybe they’re afraid of him.”
Yiannopoulos called Arpaio “one of the most high profile supporters of the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump,” and pressed him on what exactly drew him to Trump. Arpaio claimed that “right off the bat [he] knew [Trump] was special, and different. And he’s got a heart.” Ava Arpaio, Joe’s wife of 58 years, was sick with an unidentified but serious illness in early 2016. Arpaio claims that Trump called Ava for six minutes to check in right before he was scheduled to film an interview for national television.
“He’s got a heart, my wife fell very sick four months ago, and Donald heard that and he called her for six minutes, and then called her again,” he recalled. “He didn’t have to hook through my wife, he already had me hooked. [Those calls] were from the heart.”
As the conversation concluded, Arpaio reaffirmed his loyalty to Donald Trump and his belief that Trump is the right and only solution for America. “Trump will fight for what is right, he’ll be a great President. He’s the only one who can beat Hillary Clinton, I guarantee you. I’m with him to the bitter end,” he added.
Tom Ciccotta writes about Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity for Breitbart. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or on Facebook. You can email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com
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