Fox regular Sheriff David Clarke has officially come unhinged. The guy who is supposed to be a law enforcement officer issued a thinly-veiled call for mob violence.
This is the tweet Huffington Post noticed yesterday:
It's incredible that our institutions of gov, WH, Congress, DOJ, and big media are corrupt & all we do is bitch. Pitchforks and torches time pic.twitter.com/8G5G0daGVN
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) October 15, 2016
Huffington Post noted:
The FBI, which has jurisdiction over matters of voter intimidation, declined to comment to The Huffington Post on whether it was looking into the sheriff’s comments.
This is far from the first time Clarke has hinted that Trump supporters should get violent.
On Fox News’ Your World show in March, Clarke said about anti-Trump protesters at Trump rallies:
This is a threat to order, liberty, and the United States of America.
… I expect [Trump supporters] at these rallies to stand up for themselves and don’t back down to these bullies and these goons and to have your voice heard as well. The numbers are on your side. …I expect law-abiding citizens, if the police need a hand, to step in.
One week later, Clarke also advocated violence against anti-Trump protesters, this time on Fox & Friends:
This is a dangerous movement. It is a totalitarian movement. We should not soft-shoe this. They only understand one thing, Tucker, and it’s force. And I’m talking about reasonable force by law enforcement but I’m also talking about law-abiding citizens standing up for their Constitutional right and not have their Constitutional rights trampled on at these rallies. I’m not encouraging them to start the fight but I’m one of those that comes from the school of if a fight is inevitable, hit first and hit hard.
On Fox News’ Hannity show, in May, Clarke also encouraged violence against anti-Trump protesters:
The only thing they understand is force… These officers need to be allowed to take the gloves off and to take an offensive posture and become the aggressor…
In June, Clarke visited Fox Business Network where host Deirdre Bolton welcomed him by saying, “We are always happy to have you here.” Clarke once again suggested Trump supporters should get violent with Trump protesters:
Arrive in packs. Travel in packs. Make sure you have a couple of enforcers in those packs in case something gets out of hand.
[…]
You snatch my hat off my head, it’s gonna be a move you’re gonna regret for a long time. You snatch my sign out of my hand, of my candidate, I’m coming back after it and just because I get it back doesn’t mean the fight is over. So this is the only thing that these idiots will understand.
[…]
Until there is some sort of countermove by the Trump supporters, this stuff’s only gonna get worse.
So I seriously doubt Clarke’s latest tweet will do anything to wear out his welcome at Fox News or Fox Business.
(H/T Eric J.)
First reaction: that’s too stupid a thing to do for a Dem at a time when Hillary is so solidly ahead in the polls … tantamount to shooting oneself in the foot.
Second reaction: who would actually benefit, then? Snap! The Trump republicans, it being very unlikely that a true Republican would stoop to violence. Their MO is more sneaky, subtle (like the SCOTUS over-riding the Florida electoral offices.
Third reaction: I hope the sheriff in that county is a true professional, unlike the Sheriff with the improbable hats.
That said, had Gore listened even a little to left wing Dems who were begging him to take some of the policy positions of Ralph Nader, he would not have found himself in such a tight margin in Florida.
As for the Tea Party nonsense, I agree that nearly all of it has been about obstructing President Obama and hiding behind some faux patriotism. It’s also been well-funded by the Koch Brothers and the like, an aspect that the right wing tries to muddy by throwing smears at George Soros.
I also agree that Clarke’s behavior this year has been acutely irresponsible for a Sheriff. The best thing he could do at this time would be to voluntarily step down and allow a non-partisan Sheriff take over. Or his citizens could recall him.
I fully expect Trump to throw a complete tantrum after he loses. I doubt he’ll concede in any public way, and I really doubt he’ll make the traditional phone call. Trump doesn’t handle losing well – and all the other parts of the end of a presidential campaign would be skipped by him while he announces his new media empire in the making. I expect him to make a series of comments about the election being rigged against him and that he’ll be filing a lawsuit about that but in the meantime, here’s Trump TV. It’s for that reason that I expect some Trumpsters to attempt to disrupt the inauguration in January.
On the other hand, it will be deeply satisfying to either see the Senate go ahead and confirm Merrick Garland in December or see Hillary Clinton make the first of what should be at least 2 SC appointments within her first week in the White House.
I seriously doubt that Clarke and those that fan the flames for this dangerous talk will take any responsibility.
Gore was disappointed but he also believed in ensuring a smooth transition to government.
The whole teabagger movement was established for the sole purpose of disrupting the operation of government (a VERY small part had started during Dubya’s final summer in office but the overwhelming majority of the movement didn’t get involved until after the Black man was sworn into office).
Previously the province of the far-right Patriot Movement, Fox News is mainstreaming the notion the 2nd Amendment exists to allow Americans to rise up against a tyrannical government. What can be more tyrannical than a democratically elected president you voted against?
It’s a sad commentary on our current state of politics the press has to ask Trump (and other Republicans) if they plan to support the results of election 2016.
We’ll strap him into a dentist’s chair, clamp his eyelids open and force him to watch 100 hours nonstop of the Andy Griffith Show. ( my favorites are the pickle story followed by the haunted house episode).