Sheriff Clarke Sounds Off on Anti-Trump Protests
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke on 'Not My President's Day' protests, efforts to change the anti-police sentiment and efforts to reduce violent crime in America.
As protestors organize ‘Not my President’s Day’ rallies against President Trump in cities across the country, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke discusses how law enforcement is planning to deal with the protests.
“If it’s a protest, it’s fine, but this is a resistance movement and I’ve given very strick orders that the first time a rock is thrown, the first time a window’s smashed, property damaged, vandalism, the first time an officer is injured, that the crowd is to be disbursed and they’re to use all reasonable means to keep the peace,” Clarke told the FOX Business Network’s Dagen McDowell.
Clarke then took issue with the anti-Trump protestors’ behavior.
“These people are like petulant children stomping their feet with these child-like nursery rhyme slogans, ‘hey hey, ho ho.’ That stuff is stupid, it’s very juvenile behavior, but that’s quite alright if they want to act like that.”
According to Clarke, Trump can still build a strong legacy if he sticks to the agenda he successfully campaigned on despite the protests.
“He [Donald Trump] has a chance to be the Winston Churchill of the 21st century if he continues to focus on what he talked about during the campaign and what he still continues to talk about in terms of making America great again, making America safe again.”
Though Clarke says the protestors have a right to disagree or not like Trump, he believes people should still be respectful.
“They’re trying to intimidate him into inaction, they’re trying to deny him his lawful position as President of the United States. He is the President of the United States, he’s the president of all people,” Clarke continued, “That doesn’t mean all people have to like him, but all people must respect him.”
Despite the Trump administration’s shift in tone towards law enforcement from President Obama’s administration, Clarke expected it would take time for anti-police attitudes to change across the country.
“It’s going to take time to bend this curve back, this anti-police sentiment.”
Clarke then reacted to a Department of Justice report accusing officers in the Chicago Police Department of using excessive force against minorities.
“That report - under that cop-hating DOJ, led by Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and President Obama - that report was junk, it was garbage, it was full of lies. None of that stuff in that report, and I saw it, none of it is true.”