Arpaio should resign, then defend Trump

It's a cliff hanger: How low will the GOP go for the beloved base?

Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County's green-baloney, pink-underwear sheriff, went on the "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" to defend The Donald for insulting the entire country of Mexico.

While he was at it, Arpaio couldn't resist taking one more swing at Obama's birth certificate.

Arpaio's "pretty well convinced" it's a fake, he said. Then he went off on immigrants. Again.

Meanwhile, Arizona's GOP Gov. Doug Ducey was firing off a press release called "Why I'm reaching out to Mexico." It was about trade.

Ducey might consider one called: Why I want Joe Arpaio to Resign.

It would be about how the GOP likes Latinos. Really. They mean it. Honest.

Ducey just got elected. He doesn't have to appeal to the GOP base right now. So he's using his trust-me-I'm-from-the-Chamber-of-Commerce voice.

AKA, let us trickle down on you.

GOP Rep. Matt Salmon, who is running for re-election, has to appeal to the Arpaio faction. So he does photo-ops with the Sheriff.

After all, who has more credibility than Joe Arpaio?

He presides over a law enforcement agency that failed to investigate hundreds of sex abuse charges. A federal judge found him guilty of racial profiling, and now he faces contempt charges for defying court orders. He'll go on trial next month as the U.S. Justice Department alleges he used his office to investigate, arrest and indict his political opponents.

Who could doubt a fellow with credentials like that? Not the GOP base.

I criticized Joe and Donald and was slapped down my some of Joe's fans, including this by e-mail:

"They both want to protect Arizona LEGAL citizens from illegal and dangerous people. Why do you think it is o.k. To come to our country the wrong way. Just because your name is Valdez, you think your race is not subject to the laws . . . "

My race? Valdez?

Gee, whiz. I'm German-Irish.

This reader might want to get a job as an Arpaio investigator. They seem to have a similar who-needs-facts approach.

Arpaio was on the air to defend Trump, who launched his bid for the White House by saying:

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

Thank heaven some of them are OK.

Arpaio was eager to defend Trump's first amendment rights. Me, too. I'll support Arpaio's right to defend Trump's right to degrade the GOP brand. Keep talking, boys. Hillary loves it.

But when these guys get going, it's time to think about a right to free earplugs.