GOP front-runner Donald Trump saw a rally Saturday in Arizona briefly obstructed by road-blocking protesters, but offered his standard fare of bellicose claims after the delay.
An hour before the rally in Fountain Hills, Ariz., outside of Phoenix, was scheduled to begin, a group of protesters blocked a road to prevent supporters from getting to the event.
The protest delayed the start of the event by nearly an hour, forced some Trump fans to walk part of the way to the rally and set off verbal clashes between attendees and protesters. The demonstrators held signs that said “Shut Down Trump” and “Dump Trump,” and used cables to attach themselves to cars blocking the street, according to reports.
Clashes between protesters and supporters of the GOP front-runner have turned violent over the past weeks. In Chicago, Trump was forced to cancel an event in Chicago amid safety concerns earlier this month.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has made news for his aggressive crackdown on illegal immigrants, both spoke at and provided security for Trump’s rally. The sheriff endorsed Trump for president earlier this year.
Arpaio said three protesters were in jail, eliciting applause from the crowd of supporters.
“If they think they’re going to intimidate you and the next president of the United States, it’s not going to happen,” he said.
At the event, Trump told supporters that he acted cordial to his competitors in the last debate on the advice of his wife and daughter.
Trump said that his wife and his daughter, Ivanka, told him to “act presidential.”
“I didn’t hit little Marco and I didn’t hit lying, lying, lying Ted,” Trump said. “I wanted to really impress my daughter and my wife.”
Still, Trump said that if he’s elected, he’ll do something very un-presidential: calling the heads of private businesses planning to leave the U.S. and levying exorbitant taxes on their goods to convince them to stay in America.
“It’s so much fun for me, I love doing it, please don’t take that away,” he said. “I love deals.”
Arizona voters will head to the polls Tuesday to vote for the GOP presidential nominee. Fifty-eight delegates are up for grabs in the winner-takes-all state.
Early voting data compiled by the Washington Examiner suggest that Trump will win the state.
During the rally, Trump also slammed the Republican budget deal that passed the House Budget Committee last week.
“It funds Obamacare, it funds Syrians coming into the United States, we have no idea who they are. It funds illegal immigrants coming into your border,” he said. “I think it took them 12 minutes to approve the budget. Not going to happen anymore, folks.”
Trump repeated oft-made campaign promises, including building a wall on the Mexico-U.S. border, ending Common Core and protecting the Second Amendment, something he said will help prevent terrorist attacks like the ones in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., last year.
“In Paris, which has the toughest gun laws in the world … guess what? One hundred thirty people dead, no bullets were going in the opposite direction. It was just boom, boom, boom. Same thing happened in California,” Trump said.
