Inside Donald Trump’s shady transition team: Sheriff Joe Arpaio, David Clarke may be leading Department of Homeland Security
The law enforcement personnel have attacked everyone from ISIS to Black Lives Matter
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FILE - In this July 21, 2016 file photo, Phoenix, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio walks on the stage to speak during the final day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Arpaio disbanded a SWAT team that focused on handling dangerous jail inmates at a time when the elite unit was in high demand due to a spike in assaults by inmates on guards, records show. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)(Credit: AP)This article first appeared on Right Wing Watch
Donald Trump’s transition team is reportedly considering Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Sheriff David Clarke and outgoing Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio as possible nominees to head up the Department of Homeland Security.
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.
When white supremacists murdered six people at a Sikh temple in Milwaukee County, Clarke faced criticism for being “AWOL.” In September, an inmate died of thirst in a jail run by Clarke. He reportedly begged for water “in the days before he died.”
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.
Today, Clarke tweeted that those protesting Trump’s election “must be quelled.”
Arpaio, who lost his bid for re-election on Tuesday but emerged as a frequent companion of Trump’s on the campaign trail, may have a tough road to being confirmed if he’s nominated, as he was recently charged with contempt of court after federal prosecutors said“he willfully defied a judge’s orders to stop targeting Latinos—including citizens and legal immigrants—in traffic stops and other law enforcement efforts.”