David Clarke will head to Homeland Security
These days, there’s a lot going on in Washington. That’s why it’s easy to miss stories that fly under the radar.
One of them is the recent move by the Trump Administration to put extremist David Clarke, the Milwaukee County Sherriff, into the job of assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
As reported in the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal and shared by the blog Joe My God:
“Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. will leave office next month to accept a federal appointment as an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He will work in the department’s Office of Partnership and Engagement as a liaison with state, local and tribal law enforcement and governments.”
From saying transgender Americans “suffered from mental disorders” to calling on Americans to “rage, then revolt” following the U.S. Supreme Court’s history marriage equality ruling in 2015, Clarke's anti-LGBTQ history runs deep (Wisconsin Gazette).
More: 5 ways Trump harmed LGBT people
Apparently, Clarke is excited about the new gig.
“I’m looking forward to joining that team,” Clarke said Thursday afternoon on the Vicki McKenna talk show on 1130 WISN Radio. Clarke said one of his responsibilities would be to “take complaints of shortcomings in the Department of Homeland Security.” “They feel like they’re being ignored,” Clarke said of his counterparts in local law enforcement.”
Here’s what Right Wing Watch has documented about some of Clarke’s belief’s:
“Clarke has “compared Beyonce to a Ku Klux Klan member, called for the Great Seal of the United States to feature a semi-automatic rifle, and repeatedly demanded a literal uprising against the government in protest of President Obama’s gun violence proposals, potential election rigging and marriage equality.” He once tweeted that anti-Trump protests “must be quelled.”
But there is more:
“Clarke suggested that any person who posts pro-terrorist sentiments on social media be arrested, deprived of the constitutional protection against unlawful imprisonment (known as habeas corpus), and sent to Guantanamo Bay indefinitely,” Pema Levy of Mother Jones writes. “He estimated the number of people who could be imprisoned under his proposal could reach 1 million. Presumably, this would include American citizens.”
“Clarke once said that when he hears “people say we need to reach across the aisle and work with the Democrats, you know what I say? The only reason I’ll be reaching across the aisle is to grab one of them by the throat.”
As Joe My God reported, in 2006 Clarke was sued (successfully) for forcing cops sit through Christian proselytizing sessions before his mandatory staff meetings.
Clarke appealed the ruling to an appellate court and lost again.
At the moment, Clarke is being sued after an inmate at his jail died of thirst six days after the water was cut off to his cell. “He is known to post public physical threats against his critics on the official Facebook page for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department,” reports JMG.
And then there’s this:
“David Clarke sued for have police detain man who asked about his outfit. David Clarke hurls racist slur at CNN commentator. David Clarke calls for a “pitchforks and torches” uprising against the federal government and journalists should Hillary Clinton win the election.”
h/t: Joe My God and Wisconsin Gazette
