After President Trump announced on Friday night that he would pardon Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff known for putting Latinos in what he described as a “concentration camp” and for his ongoing “investigation” into racist birther claims, and who had been convicted of contempt in a racial profiling case, even some conservatives were outraged.
But not so many of Arpaio and Trump’s fellow birthers, who came to the former Sheriff’s defense.
Jerome Corsi, the former WorldNetDaily writer who was one of the primary drivers of the birther conspiracy theory, blasted critics of the pardon as “ELITE GOP GLOBALISTS Anti-Trump”:
GLOBALIST KARL ROVE joins OBAMA DEMS saying: Trump's Arpaio Pardon a 'Bad Mistake' https://t.co/MhxLDRtBO5 ELITE GOP GLOBALISTS Anti-TRUMP
— Jerome Corsi (@jerome_corsi) August 28, 2017
Corsi now works at Alex Jones’ Infowars, where he has been advocating Arpaio’s case. Arpaio recently thanked Jones and his staff for helping to influence Trump in his decision to issue a pardon.
Pioneering birther Orly Taitz wrote on Twitter that Trump should keep up the momentum and preemptively pardon Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort in order to “end” the investigation into his campaign’s ties with Russia:
After Arpaio Trump should pardon Flynn and Manafort and end Russia investigation. Time for agenda: repeal Ocare, lower taxes, border wall
— Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq. (@DrOrlyTaitzEsq) August 26, 2017
Ted Nugent, who has praised Arpaio’s investigation into Obama’s “phony birth certificate and phony history," wrote on Twitter today that Arpaio is “the hero” in this situation and the courts “are the criminal villains.”
The great LEO warrior Joe Arpaio is the hero the judge and our court system are the criminal villains
— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) August 28, 2017
Sandy Rios, an American Family Association official and radio host who has questioned Obama’s birthplace, said on her radio program this morning that Arpaio is “a wonderful man” who was the victim of “a political set-up.”
Other far-right activists also rejoiced in the pardon. American Family Radio host Bryan Fischer wrote that Trump’s decision to pardon Arpaio was a “DISPLAY of the Constitution” against “judicial TYRANNY”:
No - Arpaio pardon a DISPLAY of the Constitution, not an attack; need created by judicial TYRANNY, not independence. https://t.co/lGnloXyYyr
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) August 26, 2017
Matt Barber, the editor of Barbwire.com and the cohost of a radio program with Liberty Counsel, wrote that he hoped that the pardon would encourage others to break the law and would nullify Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s Russia ties:
By pardoning #SheriffJoe, @POTUS has sent a #DogWhistle to #LawEnforcement that they should follow #Arpaio's example. Isn't that #Awesome!
— Matt Barber (@jmattbarber) August 26, 2017
Yep. Are you listening, #Grand Inquisitor #Mueller? #FakeNews #RussiaGate #WitchHunt #ArpaioPardon #SheriffJoe #Arpaio https://t.co/TMVA3vijcO
— Matt Barber (@jmattbarber) August 26, 2017
And of course, Ann Coulter, who’s had a direct line to Trump with her anti-immigrant vitriol, was thrilled:
So proud of you, Mr President! https://t.co/H0b4AiNHcu
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 26, 2017
