Trumpkin is in Phoenix for his “rally,” which starts in about half an hour. Many people there are dreading it; many are protesting it.

Large protests are expected near the president’s rally in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday night, his first such event since he drew wide condemnation for his comments on the violence in Charlottesville, Va., this month.

The rally, scheduled for 7 p.m. local time at the Phoenix Convention Center, is Mr. Trump’s first visit as president to Arizona, where he made fiery remarks on a signature issue — immigration — during his election campaign last year.

The state is home to high-profile supporters of Mr. Trump, like Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County who built a national reputation on his hard-line stance against undocumented immigrants and was recently convicted of criminal contempt of court. But it is also home to staunch critics of Mr. Trump, like Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain, both Republicans who have feuded openly with the president.

Amid the fallout from Mr. Trump’s assertion that “both sides” were to blame for the violent clashes in Charlottesville, and following the president’s suggestion that he could pardon Mr. Arpaio, Phoenix is bracing for throngs of protesters to come out in 100-degree heat.

But he’ll just look out at all the red cap wearers cheering him and think they’re all that counts.

The mayor of Phoenix, Greg Stanton, a Democrat, has urged Mr. Trump to delay his trip.

“America is hurting,” Mr. Stanton wrote Monday, in an opinion piece for the Washington Post. “And it is hurting largely because Trump has doused racial tensions with gasoline. With his planned visit to Phoenix on Tuesday, I fear the president may be looking to light a match.”

Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, was planning to greet Mr. Trump but not to attend the rally, according to the Arizona Republic.

Neither Mr. Flake nor Mr. McCain, both of whom last week tweeted about their apparentdisapproval of Mr. Trump’s comments on Charlottesville, is expected to attend. Mr. Trump called Mr. Flake, who is up for re-election next year, “toxic,” and praised the senator’s primary opponent on Twitter last week. And, during the same news conference when he commented at length on Charlottesville, Mr. Trump took a jab at Mr. McCain, who derailed the Republican health care bill with a dramatic thumb-down vote on the Senate floor last month: “You mean Senator McCain who voted against us getting good health care?”

Other than that, he’s a popular guy.