In the wake of reports that children were exposed to tear gas U.S. border agents fired on a group of Central American migrants that reached the U.S.-Mexico border, former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke was focused on one thing: “the propaganda war.”
On Sunday, U.S. border agents unloaded tear gas canisters into a group of migrants that included children. The use of force worried doctors due to the severe health effects children can suffer when exposed to tear gas. Trump administration officials defended the use of tear gas against the migrants and President Donald Trump lied that children were not exposed to the chemical agent, despite photo and video evidence that they were.
Clarke, whose talking-head shtick is applauding the Trump administration for everything it does, was once promised a role at the Department of Homeland Security that he never received. In an interview with right-wing media outlet NewsMax TV host John Cardillo, Clarke hyper-focused on the idea that Republicans needed to win “the narrative” about whether it was acceptable to use tear gas on children.
“He’s got to pay attention to the politics,” Clarke said. “What I mean by that is the propaganda war. You have to win the propaganda war. You have to control the narrative.”
Clarke said control over the message “got away from them a little bit” when it was reported that the Trump administration was separating children from their parents and placing them into camps at the southern border. (The Trump administration still detains children in camps at the border.)
“You have to control the narrative. I think the president is doing an outstanding job using Twitter, social media, for a real-time, continual informing the American people what’s going on.”
He added, “You have to win public opinion on these sorts of things. It’s just like a war.”
