Here's a thread on Joe Arpaio, a legitimate candidate for the U.S. Senate in Arizona and the former 24-year sheriff of Maricopa County. The man who hailed himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff." nbcnews.com/politics/elect…
After asking Arpaio a series of policy questions, or "technical questions" as he called them, the Senate candidate told me: "When you're asking me now, don't forget: I just made a decision to run. Instead of looking at the sports page, I've got to start looking at the newspaper."
When asked whether he supported efforts to repeal the individual mandate as part of Obamacare, Arpaio answered: “I don’t have all the facts on that yet. I didn’t study it.”
When asked about Arizona's expansion of Medicaid, Arpaio: “I don’t have the—the jury is out on that. I haven’t studied that. Have the nuts and bolts. So that’s something I’ll have to look at—how it effects Arizona because I want to make sure that Arizona is taken care of."
Asked which part of the tax reform measure signed into law by President Trump in January would most benefit Arizonans, Arpaio mentioned Arizonans “getting into the middle class.” He wouldn't name a specific aspect besides tax cuts being "great."
Asked about NAFTA, a crucial trade agreement to the Arizona economy, Arpaio: "The president is always right. I'm going to support the president's agenda."
Arpaio's plan for the 1.8 million Dreamers in the U.S.: Send them back to their native countries to serve as "ambassadors" for America. State Dept. would oversee: “They’ve got a lot of openings now anyway. I’m sure they can hire a few extra to take care of this problem.” 
Arpaio on Dreamers: “Little by little, when you come across [a DREAMer], ‘You’re going back. But, but, we want you to go back because, you know what, we want you to know where you were born and the country you came from.’”
Get Ready: Joe Arpaio intends to release in the next few weeks--> “I have stuff that pertains to what’s going on in Washington—right now—with the dossier."
Arpaio emphatically states he "cannot mix" legal defense $$ w/ cmpgn $$. But in Sept, he sent email saying he owed $300k in bills. Now: Arpaio acknowledges still raising legal $$ amid cmpgn. “Of course I’m still raising money. It costs a lot of money to defend yourself.”
DC streets used to know young Arpaio: After serving 4 yrs in Army, he came to DC as a police officer, patrolling around 14th & U streets, which he called “the toughest beat in America. It was all black. Tough. And I walked the beat by myself with a nightstick and black jack.”
Arpaio worked 25 years in top spots for DEA. To me other night on major drug kingpins: "When you have tough penalties for drugs, that is a deterrent, and for those amateurs who want to get hooked up with the big boys, you're going to have to face it & deal w/ the death penalty."
Arpaio, from 1982 to 1992, worked for his wife Ava's travel agency. He ran for office after incumbent GOP Sheriff Tom Agnos cancelled dept's contract with the Arpaio travel company. “That’s a little quirk, and it’s true. I probably never would have run.”
“The sheriff before [Agnos]—I gave him a few bucks, and [Agnos] probably found out about it. So he got back at me by taking away my travel account," Arpaio said. Wife Ava added: “It was a nice account." Joe followed: “One of the biggest."
Arpaio, running for sheriff in 1992, broke cmpgn pledge to turn sheriff into non-political, county-appointed position. “Come on, I would have survived if I was appointed? I’d been fired in 2 minutes! That was the mistake I made—I had said I’d do one term. Well, it was different”
Joe Arpaio on Jeff Flake's NH trip: "I have a better chance of being president than Flake does...why is he going up to NH? ... Trump wants to expand space travel. Maybe he ought to ask Flake if he would like to volunteer for the first flight to Mars."
Arpaio last week: "You know I'm the only one that could beat [Sinema]--you know that right?"
Arpaio has not held any campaign events ahead of August primary. But he has universal name ID. And recall, he raised $12.8 million for his 2016 sheriff's bid. That's more than Mark Kirk, a then-vulnerable GOP incumbent for senator raised. And that was for his sheriff's race(!).
