Sheriff David Clarke Wants to Lay Down Some Old-Fashioned Fascism on Trump Protesters

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Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:32 pm

Americans aren’t happy about Trump’s win on Election Day, and no wonder, given Hillary Clinton’s win by popular vote. And they’re showing it by marching in the streets.

In response, Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. seems determined to prove those of us who compared Trump’s movement to the Nazi movement right. Authoritarianism? Check. Hyper-Police state? Check. Kiss the First Amendment goodbye? He’s got that covered too.

Sheriff Clarke has the whole Arpaio thing going on in Milwaukee, as you can see from this tweet, where he attempts to delegitimize people who oppose Trump by characterizing them as “anarchists”:

These riots are not protest and should be quelled quickly. These goon anarchists do not believe in the US Constitution or the rule of law. pic.twitter.com/66vdmiNasX

— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) November 11, 2016

Obviously, this is a protest and as such is protected by the First Amendment. The guy who has a problem with the United States Constitution is Sheriff Clarke, who seems unaware of the Constitution’s guarantee of the right of citizens to peacefully assemble.

If that wasn’t a pointed enough message for you, Clarke sent this one later:

How to stop riots. 1)Declare state of emergency.2)Impose early curfew. 3)Mobilize Nat Guard.4)Authorize ALL non lethal force. 5)Tear gas. pic.twitter.com/laBvrRbiz3

— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) November 12, 2016

All that’s missing here are labor camps and signs telling us that “work makes us free.” Masha Gessen, a Russian-American journalist, told Rachel Maddow we should take Trump at his word that he ran for autocrat rather than president, and it is clear Clarke finds autocracy more appealing than democracy.

You would think a violent revolution were underway from his language. He wants to declare a state of emergency because people are peacefully protesting the election of Donald Trump. Never mind that Trump supporters were all but threatening an actual revolution if their candidate didn’t win.

Clarke, needless to say, did not discourage such a reaction, but he sure wants to quash freedom of speech now that the opposite has transpired. “ALL” non-lethal force? One thing Trump certainly accomplished, and that is bringing all the fascists out in the open.

Clark later hypocritically tweeted that “All of the vile, vitriol, hate, abuse, bullying we Trump supporters put up with was worth it because it was necessary in reaching our goal,” but it doesn’t sound as though he intends to stop being vile, hateful, abusive, and bullying now that Trump has won.

And in the end, this question from Newsweek‘s Kurt Eichenwald is one of those questions that answers itself:

Will some Trumper explain to me why, even in victory, so many of you remain nasty bullies? You won. What else do you want?

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) November 12, 2016

We’ll leave it at that.

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Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen's Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.

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