Jeff Northrup, known for his frequent and flamboyant anti-Trump demonstrations, was picketing this morning at the corner of Smith Enke Road and John Wayne Parkway near the CVS Pharmacy when he says Maricopa Code Enforcement Officer Dean Dinwiddie confiscated his incendiary political signs — and his signature Donald Trump doll.

The Trump-shaped piñata wears gold Converse sneakers and holds a Trump-branded bible “for sale.”

Northrup told InMaricopa he believed the municipal officer was in the wrong.

“He claimed that was a right-of-way … but there’s really no sidewalk there and there’s nothing else, it’s all gone,” Northrup said of the busy street corner that has in recent weeks become a construction zone. “So, there’s no way it could have been a right-of-way but that’s what he was screaming.”  

Northrup said he had set up his signs and the doll in a dirt patch on the corner near the pharmacy.

The officer “didn’t make any attempt whatsoever to pretend like Donald was a breakable object,” Northrup said. “Luckily, he didn’t break, but he was just so full of anger.”  

Northrup said that usually code enforcement officers are supposed to give a warning and 24 hours’ notice before picking up signs. He was not ticketed and was able to repossess his political paraphernalia while on his way to a Democratic rally in Phoenix this morning.

But his biggest problems are still on the horizon. 

Northrup said that when he picked up his little Trump, the code enforcement officer who helped him — he didn’t name which one — told him the city would be filing criminal charges against him as they were “tired of fooling around” with him. 

The Maricopa Meadows resident was slapped with 18 counts of violating the city’s “general standards” for signs in July and fought the charges in court. He claimed that during the trial the judge “didn’t listen to a word” he had to say.

The judge this summer tabled the $1,800 in fines lodged by the city against Northrup. However, at City Hall on Oct. 15, he said he was told that he needed to arrange payment. 

“There’s no use in making arrangements because I don’t have any money,” Northrup said. “I could settle the debt for $10 and then they can go pursue someone else for the $1,800. At least they would have $10 they could put into the city of Maricopa bank account.”  

Northrup said he doesn’t plan to let this latest obstacle stop his picketing efforts as after the Harris-Walz rally this afternoon, he is headed to a Glendale event hosted by Tucker Carlson and featuring Trump to picket.

Northrup in July went viral on the social networking website Reddit in r/pics, a subreddit with 31 million members, after a user named crumbly_toast posted a picture of the Trump piñata that was seized today. It was upvoted north of 2,000 times.