There is no stopping Donald Trump, who is now tied with GOP candidate Jeb Bush in recent polls. Trump took his momentum to Phoenix, Ariz. on Saturday, promising to rally more than 9,000 supporters.
Trump was joined by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has built a national reputation for hunting down and deporting illegal immigrants in the Phoenix area, The Washington Post reported.
Trump refused to listen to the Republican Party chairman's advice to tone down his remarks regarding Mexico and immigration policies that are bordering on alienating a voting constituency.
Republican Chairman Reince Priebus believes that this tact is tainting the image of the Republican Party. Trump has been criticized by fellow Republican office holders, including Arizona's two senators, Jeff Flake and John McCain.
The criticisms did not deter the real estate billionaire, who seemed to be fired up when he mentioned in a speech at the downtown Phoenix Convention Center that America's "silent majority is back."
"We're going to take the country back," he said, referencing former President Richard Nixon's famous speech reaching out to Americans who were opposed to protests of the Vietnam War. "We're going to make America great again."
Trump has vowed to fine Mexico $100,000 for every person crossing into the U.S. illegally, pledged to tax imports by American-owned businesses that have shipped jobs overseas, and said he could destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria [ISIS] with overwhelming force, according to TIME.
"I would take them out so fast," he said.
