Former President Donald J. Trump picked up a significant endorsement while campaigning in the Grand Canyon State earlier this week.
On Sunday, President Trump appeared in front of thousands at a rally in Prescott Valley, where he was endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) for his bid for the White House.
On behalf of the 16,000 men and women represented by the National Border Patrol Council, we strongly support and endorse Donald J. Trump for President of the United States.
At the event, Paul Perez, NBPC’s President, said, “If we allow border czar Harris to win this election, every city, every community in this great country is going to hell. The untold millions of people unvetted, who she has allowed into this country that are committing murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries and every other crime will continue to put our country in peril.”
Perez added, “Only one man can fix that. That is Donald J. Trump. He has always stood with the men and women who protect this border, who put their lives on the line for the country.”
Art Del Cueto, the Vice President of the NBPC, stated, “Zero question as to who should lead this country. The time to save America is NOW!!”
State Senator Janae Shamp, one of the top border hawks of the Arizona Legislature, responded to the announcement, posting, “They know exactly what is at stake and who can fix it! God bless each and everyone of these men and women for standing for all Americans!”
The endorsement from the NBPC was reported as unanimous for the 45th President of the United States.
According to a press release from the Trump-Vance campaign, Trump promised to “hire 10,000 new Border Patrol agents and ask Congress to immediately approve a 10% raise for all agents, and a $10,000 retention and signing bonus.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The dead-end hyperinflationary policies of the Biden-Harris administration have put the American Dream out of reach for many young people. I have talked to my 21-year-old daughter about this so many times that it breaks my heart.
Ruby, like so many young Americans, is doing everything right. She works hard, she saves up, but that old-fashioned notion of the white-picket fence seems to be slipping away from her grasp. Part of the reason I am running for Senate is to make America affordable again. And I know that bringing down out-of-control housing prices is the key to restoring access to the American Dream for our young people.
Per Federal Reserve data, in 1984, the median U.S. household income was $22,400 and the median home price was $78,200, or about 3.5 times the median income. By 2022, median household income had risen to $74,580, but median home prices had risen to over $433,000 — or nearly six times median income.
Elected officials owe it to our constituents to take clear and decisive action to reduce housing costs.
There has been so much focus on the role of interest rates, but the answer to bringing them back down, while hard to achieve, is fairly straightforward: the federal government needs to stop printing money we don’t have so that it can pay bills that we can’t afford. Taming that imbalance won’t be quick or easy, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a bill of goods.
But there is another key element of the housing crisis that we can address quickly and effectively: a lack of skilled tradespeople. According to an analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors, the United States is short over half a million skilled construction workers. The lack of skilled construction workers combined with rapidly increasing costs of materials is creating a roadblock to building the millions of additional housing units that are needed to relieve the cost bottleneck.
Bringing down the cost of materials largely hinges on three things: reducing the price of energy and fuel, eliminating excessive regulations created by the Biden-Harris administration, and increasing the number of skilled workers available to producers. Limitations on oil-and-gas production and refining are leading to rapidly increasing fuel and energy costs that have inflated the price of building materials by tens of thousands of dollars per home.
Likewise, excessive regulation and DEI mandates being forced on producers by the Biden-Harris administration are also increasing materials and labor costs, without appreciable benefit to society in terms of reduced inequality. Lastly, the rush to send every high school graduate to a four-year college, with massive government subsidies, is draining the workforce of skilled tradespeople which both increases the cost of construction and delays additional new home starts.
Solving the first two problems is very simple. Replace President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris with Donald Trump, overturn the current administration’s pointless and counterproductive executive mandates, and you are two thirds of the way there. The last step — increasing the number of skilled construction workers — is going to take more effort.
But with some simple changes in federal education funding and policy, we can turn that deficit around in a matter of just a few years by revising federal education funding and loans to stop discriminating against trade schools and technical education and support the development of a skilled workforce sufficient to meet the demands of our housing market.
First, we need to revise the guidelines for Pell grants to allow them to be issued and used for more students to attend trade and technical schools. Second, if the government is going to continue to back student loans, eligibility for those loans needs to be aggressively expanded to include more trade schools.
Currently, trade-school students can access government-backed student loans, but only if their trade school is federally accredited. Many are not. Getting the vast majority of trade schools nationwide accredited so their students have access to government-backed loans should be a major priority for the next administration and will be a priority of mine in the U.S. Senate.
Lastly, the government needs to aggressively partner with industry to expand trade school opportunities by making low-interest loans available to companies and unions to invest in new and expanded trade and technical-school facilities.
The cost to attend trade and technical schools is far less than the cost of a four-year degree, and the returns on that investment are astronomical. A few thousand dollars of up-front investment in these careers yields a lifetime of high earnings, and resultant increased tax revenues. As a result, investing in expanding our skilled workforce is responsible governance, and must be a priority going forward.
President Donald Trump’s campaign team launched the “Latter-Day Saints for Trump” on October 8th. Five days later, they held a groundbreaking zoom call, or “virtual fireside,” that saw over 100,000 attendees register. Joined by prominent conservative Mormon figures such as TheBlaze founder Glenn Beck, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), and Congressman Burgess Owens (R-UT), along with Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, the fireside chat with Trump lasted nearly two hours and was hosted by Queen Creek Town Councilman Travis Padilla.
As reported by Deseret News, the coalition, though not officially endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has brought together prominent leaders in the faith from Arizona, Idaho and Utah seeking “to uphold cherished principles of faith, family and religious liberty.”
A press release stated, “President Trump’s administration demonstrated a strong commitment to protecting religious freedoms, allowing faith-based organizations to practice their beliefs freely. This coalition aligns with the belief that religious liberty remains a cornerstone of American life and that families are central to our nation’s strength and moral foundation.”
Approximately forty-two minutes into the program, Trump was welcomed to the Zoom call in audio-only format while departing Arizona aboard Trump Force One, following whirlwind campaign rallies in Coachella, California, and Prescott Valley which caused some distortion in the audio and brief moments of signal loss.
Despite the technical challenges, Trump addressed the 100,000+ attendees for approximately eleven minutes. He opened his remarks with praise for the Latter-Day Saints community and for Congressman Biggs, citing the commonalities held between the 45th President and the Utah-based faith. “…You have the values that we have and those are the values that we want to keep And, you know, we discussed this at great length and with many others also, the Constitution is hanging by a thread, literally hanging by a thread. We cannot let that go on.”
“The family is really the foundation of a prosperous and good society, and that’s what we want There’s just so many things that we all agree to, but I want to just say hello to the many incredible members of the Latter-Day Saints community and thank you for allowing me even to speak today, and your prayers and your support have been incredible. We’ve had tremendous relationships over the years. We’ve done a lot of great work together.”
In the course of his remarks, Trump noted that, despite Vice President Kamala Harris’ aspersions that he is “running against Democracy,” he believes “the biggest threat to democracy is a lack of confidence.” He criticized the Democratic party for taking the incumbent President “out of the race in really what was a coup,” following a poor debate performance that found Trump “up by many, many points against Biden.”
Addressing the Latter-Day Saints community in particular, he told listeners, “We really have to stay united around those beliefs who believe that faith in God, that our Judaic Christian values are essential to a healthy American society. Good family, we believe in parental rights. We believe, in fact, that religious freedom is the foundation of all freedom. It is the absolute foundation of all freedom. And that we believe it is fair and equal justice under the Constitutional rule of law.”
Turning to his opponent, Trump warned, “She is not a competent person. She is not a person of faith. And she’ll do everything she can to hurt Mormons and to hurt everybody else.”
In a post to X on Monday morning, Trump continued his commentary on Harris’ competency writing, “I believe it is very important that Kamala Harris pass a test on Cognitive Stamina and Agility. Her actions have led many to believe that there could be something very wrong with her. Even 60 Minutes and CBS, in order to protect Lyin’ Kamala, illegally and unscrupulously replaced an answer she had given, which was totally ‘bonkers,’ with another answer that had nothing to do with the question asked. Also, she is slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions. We just went through almost four years of that, we shouldn’t have to do it again!”
I believe it is very important that Kamala Harris pass a test on Cognitive Stamina and Agility. Her actions have led many to believe that there could be something very wrong with her. Even 60 Minutes and CBS, in order to protect Lyin’ Kamala, illegally and unscrupulously replaced…
According to Deseret, other members of the coalition who were not on the call included: Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT); Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes; Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador; the “Diesel Brothers,” David Sparks and David Kiley; Kelly Barnett and Darin Hoover, the Utah Gold Star parents of USMC Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover; Tina Descovich, co-founder of Moms for Liberty; Doug Quezada, executive vice president of Omnis Energy; Kimberly Fletcher, president and founder of Moms for America; Utah State Rep. Karianne Lisonbee; Utah State Rep. Kera Birkeland; Utah Rep. Melissa Garff Ballard; and former U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT).
As early voting starts across Arizona, Republican and Democrat nominees for President, Vice President – and their surrogates – barnstormed the state to reach voters ahead of the pivotal contest.
Several major events are taking place across Arizona as the November General Election nears.
On Tuesday, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff touched down in Arizona to rally voters for his wife, the Democrat nominee for President, Kamala Harris.
During Emhoff’s event, protestors made their views known about the Israel-Hamas War.
📍Phoenix, AZ
Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupt Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff during his rally Tuesday evening.
As the demonstrators were being escorted out of the rally, Emhoff noted the importance of the first amendment in the country. pic.twitter.com/JPmISoYNPN
U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steve Scalise appeared with the Trump Campaign at a Phoenix rally to increase support for the Republican ticket.
Majority Leader Scalise campaigning hard for Trump Force 47 in Arizona and Nevada! pic.twitter.com/8WfcGace8x
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) October 9, 2024
On Wednesday, U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, stopped by the state, touching base with voters in Mesa and in Tucson.
We’re excited to welcome @JDVance back to Arizona at the Tucson Speeday on the first day of Early Voting!
The First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, has announced plans to campaign for the Harris-Walz ticket over the weekend in the state.
New this AM: First Lady Jill Biden will return to the campaign trail as a surrogate for Vice President Harris with a 5 day battleground state swing starting on Friday, a source tells CNN. She’ll campaign in AZ, NV, MI, WI and PA https://t.co/7wo79YNaqf
An Arizona State Senator is standing against an outrageous depiction of President Donald J. Trump.
Last week, Senator Janae Shamp, a Republican, issued a press release to “condemn the obscene nude statue of President Donald Trump that was hung from a crane in Las Vegas and reappeared most recently in Phoenix.”
In a statement, Shamp said, “How anyone could possibly believe this political stunt is anything more than sick and deplorable is beyond me. Many Americans have recently lost their lives or livelihoods in large areas of our country as a result of hurricane Helene. Our federal government has run out of aid money to assist them after spending nearly $1billion in FEMA funding to aid illegal immigration and the Biden-Harris open border crisis.”
Shamp added, “Hardworking families are struggling to put food on the table because of inflation. American citizens are dying every single day from consuming deadly fentanyl that’s trafficked into our country. Need I say more? We need solutions, and we need unity in this country right now, not dangerous and deplorable political theater. This ‘project’ is a shameful use of anyone’s resources and needs to end now.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
