Sheriff David Clarke, the hate-mongering, bigoted, promoter of violence against those he disagrees with, is just the kind of guy Donald Trump wants in charge of keeping tabs on people like us.
Of course, Fox loves Clarke, too.
You may recall that Clarke has repeatedly encouraged violence against people who don’t think like he does. Most notably, there was his recent tweet suggesting it was time for pitchforks and torches against the White House, Congress, the Department of Justice and more:
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
Not surprisingly, once Trump won, Clarke was against protests. He even had the gall or the stupidity, or both, to hold up a copy of the Constitution as he suggested the right to protest was not enshrined in it.
These temper tantrums from these radical anarchists must be quelled. There is no legitimate reason to protest the will of the people. pic.twitter.com/G502pwNSN9
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) November 10, 2016
And let’s not forget that Clarke was against protests before he was for them (and then against them again). Clarke has repeatedly urged violence against anti-Trump protesters, with Fox News' approval.
Clarke has also boasted on Fox News that he said African Americans live in hell before Donald Trump did.
And speaking of living in hell, an inmate recently died of thirst in Clarke’s jail.
But, apparently there’s nothing not to like about Clarke if you’re Donald Trump. According to Politico, Clarke is in the running for Homeland Security Secretary.
Politico also notes, “Trump’s divisive campaign may make it difficult for him to attract top talent, especially since so many politicians and wonks openly derided the president-elect over the past year.”
Clarke is not only non-top talent, he’s pretty much the bottom of the barrel. But if Trump is willing to put this guy in charge of FEMA, ICE, cybersecurity and more, either because it’s the best Trump can do or because Trump thinks he’s a good candidate, we’re all in deep doo-doo.
If you’re not familiar with Clarke, check out his March 19, 2016 visit to Fox & Friends, below, for a taste.
As another Fox watcher, I think I can understand and share your frustration. I started to write a comment to that effect but it got so long that I decided to turn it into a post. But it’s too late for that now so I’ll hope to get to it tomorrow.
Meanwhile, let me just leave you all with this bit of upsetting news:
Paul Ryan plans to phase out Medicare in 2017. Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall wrote:
“Every Democrat should be focused and talking about it volubly both as a matter of policy and politics. There isn’t much time.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/ryan-plans-to-phase-out-medicare-in-2017
I heard he was Drumpf’s second choice: Donnie actually wanted another teevee sheriff, Joe Arpaio — but he’s likely to be tied up in litigation.
Plus, reports have Reince Prebus as Drumpf’s WH Chief of Staff — giving new meaning to the phrase “RNC PR BS” . . .
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Michael Moore predicted this. He warned and warned America. Moore sucked most of the humor out of one “Real Time” with Bill Maher telling the panel to quit joking around. They didn’t understand how worked up his rust belt state of Michigan was. How serious the risk of a Trump presidency was.
I’m no real fan of Moore’s but I did watch parts of “Trumpland”. “Trumpland” isn’t a story of Democrats staying home. It’s a story of Archie Bunker rising up.
Certainly we can blame Democratic turnout but this is another example of a Democrat winning the popular vote but getting spanked in the Electoral College.
With rare exception, watching election night, Hillary did as about well as Obama when CNN’s John King was going state by state, locality by locality. What, IMHO, happened is rural America swamped the urban and suburban areas.
Except in Michigan and Wisconsin. When King – with visible shock on this face – stumbled upon Trump flipping a solidly Michigan urban Obama area Hillary needed badly to win that’s when I knew it was game over. I think I mentioned this in the open thread Ellen had here. Shortly thereafter that I went to bed sick to my stomach.
I kept hearing black turnout would be down based on the same polls who failed us so miserably predicting the outcome. Watching the election live I didn’t get the impression it was all that bad. However, you may recall in the live Newshound election night thread I mentioned exit polling wasn’t good for Hillary. What I didn’t mention is exit polls showed blacks voting in double the percentage for Trump than in previous elections.
My personal view of watching the rise of the Fox News conservative is the far right is much better at spreading propaganda and working up folks into a lather than Democrats are. A skilled salesman and reality TV star like Trump was the perfect match to set off the explosion.
I get most the people I know, conservative and liberals and in between, who (like me) didn’t see Trump coming are now writing off the risk (I’ve seen coming for 25+ years) of what all this means. This isn’t just another election. This isn’t just a wake up call for Democrats to do some political strategizing. No real worries. We’ll get through it and the pendulum will shift someday in our favor if we work hard.
No, this is a radical, ideologically rigid Social Darwinism with absolutely no empathy for anyone expect themselves and those personally close to them. This I’ve got mine, f—k the rest of you go rot in Hell. This is crush the safety net, consumer protections, etc. because the ‘invisible hand’ will make it okay and Archie Bunker knows he’ll be a success if we get the blacks out of his wallet and off welfare. This is crashing the system they believe is keeping them back so that it can never be rebuilt.
And to ensure America remains comfortably numb to all of this, Fox News will be churning out propaganda like you’ve never seen. Just as their Obamacare coverage was 100% data-mined negative tear it down bulls—t and those very sick Americans desperate for it remained unheard and faceless, Fox will wallpaper the ill affects of any and all suffering by shredding our safety net.
You’d think the msm could be depended on. But, other than NPR and PBS (which Republicans will completely defund and try to kill), the media coverage of Obamacare was appalling to the point of incompetence. Look at their absolutely incompetent coverage of the election. All those useless a—holes wanted to talk about was the scandals, the horserace (they worked feverishly to keep close). No questions on Social Security at the debates? You f—king kidding me? Even though it was public knowledge Trump had agree with Ryan to privatize it! I had to read my ARP rag to even find Trump’s ridiculous platform (lie) on Social Security. The media was silent.
David, there are no brakes on the crazy train. Certainly not in our political class. Certainly not in the media which, other than Fox, has no clue what’s about to come.
I’ve seen it coming. Over the last 15-20 years I’ve been saving crazy percentages of my income prepping for it. In the last 5-6 years I made the assumption I may need to replace my Social Security income and have been putting together an income stream to replace it. Not because, as most people say it won’t be there because it’ll go broke (which is bulls—t if politicians were determined to fix it), but because I knew the populist right-wing Social Darwinist fever swamp had grown so rabid they were intent on eliminating it. The cons I know universally tell me they want Social Security to go away. They just want the government to cut them a check for what they put in plus interest. Tell them it’s an anti-poverty program what about the poor? They don’t care. Just give them the money, too bad for you poor losers.
If you think I’m crazy, note during this period Objectivist Ryan’s crackpot privatization scheme became an accepted Republican plank. Him and Romney ran on it. Now he’s Speaker. We’ll soon find out if the assumed sacred third rail of politics really is.
My name is Pancho
I work on el Rancho
I make five pesos a day….
I go see my Lucy
She give me some pussy
and take my five pesos away….
All we can do now is work with this fool. Make him relaxed. Feel good about himself. We’re democrats, we’re good at this sort of thing. Hell, LBJ and Bobby Baker ran a whorehouse right in the middle of the US Senate in the 1950s.
I’m glad comedians are going to skewer Trump. But they were mocking him during the primaries and campaign. The ‘silent majority’ of the far right took it all as a badge of honor and as validation the mainstream media hates them.
I’m glad people are protesting. Yet even more people protested during the Vietnam War but the ‘silent majority’ soldiered on waving the flag.
I’ve talked of the Trump victory as a victory of urban rednecks unable to transition into a modern economy. Certainly that’s the element of the ‘rust belt’ narrative our mainstream media misinterpreted, IMHO. I admit they put him over the top.
But at the heart of the matter is the rise of talk radio. Then you have the sub-basement of right-wing hate radio: the alt-right. As right-wing hate radio scapegoated the diversification of America on the failures of a disenfranchised, economically struggling white America, the alt-right became the out of the closet bigotry talk radio stirred up into a lather with agitation-propaganda.
If the alt-right is the sub-basement and talk radio like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, etc. is the basement. Fox News is the first floor opening the front door to suck in mainstream America. Fox takes the propaganda generated from the basement dwellers and repackages the vomit they see fit for mainstreaming into a faux news format.
As moderates (like I was 25+ years ago) got booted from the Republican ranks or converted to populist conservatism, the economic side of their philosophy has been purified into economic Libertarians and Ayn Rand Objectivists. This leads to a “personal responsibility” message which is nothing but a mask for Social Darwinism.
Most of the Limbaugh disciples I know blend the bigotry and Social Darwinism together into a belief relieved of the burden of minorities tit sucking off their wallets propped up only by an incompetent and wasteful government, they would be the winners in a free and fair Adam Smith pure capitalist economy. Who can doubt it since they’re morally and intellectually superior?
A Trump (who’s fully accepted the Fox News agitation-propaganda) win with control of the House and the Senate finally lets the nutjobs steamroll an agenda down America’s throats. And once you take a wrecking ball to our social safety net and regulatory system, it’ll be nearly impossible to rebuild. Because even if the Democrats take the Senate in 2 years and Trump is gone in 4 (none of which I expect), gerrymandering ensures a Republican House for at least a decade beyond.
I’ve been a close observer of this phenomenon for 25+ years. It switched me from being a loyal voter for moderate Republicans into a reflexive Democratic one. I’ve even fought it best I’m able in my modest way. I’ve seen the horror grow and then explode with the emergence of the Tea Party. The damn has finally broken.
Sorry if I don’t see any humor in this. I don’t care how hard SNL tries.
Please let there be a video link soon.
I’ve tuned out the political world except for this site. I’m not sure how much more of this crap I can take. On the other hand, my apolitical girlfriend finds this all the Trump news funny and entertaining though she thinks Trump is a total nutjob and an a—hole.
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