According to a report in Politico today, the Trump administration is seeking to bring Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke into the fold by giving him a post in the Department of Homeland Security.
“Clarke is in line to be appointed as assistant secretary at DHS’ Office of Partnership and Engagement, which coordinates outreach to state, local and tribal officials and law enforcement. The position does not require Senate confirmation,” Politico notes.
Clarke, who recently said that those protesting Trump’s election “must be quelled,” is extremely popular in conservative circles thanks to his extremist rhetoric:
Clarke has made a name for himself as a Fox News pundit and avid supporter of the gun lobby, using his platform in the media to attack Black Lives Matter, which he describes as a lawless, “subversive” and potentially ISIS-linked group composed of “black slime” that must be “eradicated,” and to champion the cause of anti-government militants, whom he praises as patriots.
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He has also 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.
Unfortunately, that’s not all.
Clarke is in the midst of a huge scandal after four inmates died in the jail he is in charge of overseeing.
In one case, a prisoner who died of dehydration had his water cut off for a week:
Terrill Thomas spent seven straight days holed up in a solitary confinement cell with no running water, slowly withering away.
Thomas started the weeklong stretch at the Milwaukee County Jail belligerent and loud, the result of an untreated mental illness, prosecutors said. But as the days wore on, he grew weak and dehydrated. He lost nearly 35 pounds and turned quiet, never asking for or receiving medical attention.
Barely two hours into his eighth day in solitary, jail staff found Thomas, 38, dead on his jail cell floor, the result of profound dehydration.
This is the kind of person that Donald Trump wants in his administration.
