It’s been a long, bizarre year for Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke who finally appears to be without a job as of Thursday afternoon. Clarke rose to national attention as he ran around the country during the 2016 presidential campaign as one of Donald Trump’s most vocal law and order supporters. The uniform-clad sheriff (who wears a number of pins on his uniform that no one has been able to identify) resigned from his job on Thursday. He made waves as one of Trump’s few black supporters who routinely took hard line stances on law enforcement and compared Black Lives Matter to ISIS and other terrorist organizations. Despite being a loyal lapdog for the Republicans, Clarke held office as a Democrat.
David A. Clarke Jr., the sometimes divisive supporter of President Trump who appeared to flirt with taking a senior role in the Homeland Security Department, has resigned from his position as Milwaukee County sheriff, the county clerk said Thursday.
The clerk, George L. Christenson, said in an interview that his office had received a resignation letter from Mr. Clarke at 3:16 p.m. local time. The resignation was to take effect at the end of the day.
“After almost 40 years serving the great people of Milwaukee County, I have chosen to retire to pursue other opportunities,” Mr. Clarke, who is leaving office with more than a year remaining in his term, said in a statement later Thursday. “I will have news about my next steps in the very near future.”
After being sued in the spring for the abuse of multiple pregnant women who were inmates in the county jail while he ran it, he was then sued for the dehydration death of an inmate, Terrill Thomas, who died after corrections officers cut off water in his cell and refused to bring him any kind of beverages with his food for an entire week. In the spring, Clarke claimed that he had been offered a position in the Department of Homeland Security—a fact that was never confirmed and that no one seemed able to verify, except him.
In May, he thrust himself back into the spotlight, saying on a Milwaukee radio show that he would accept a senior position at the Homeland Security Department. Specifically, he said he would take over the office that coordinates the department’s outreach efforts for state, local, tribal, territorial governments and local law enforcement agencies in a position that did not require Senate confirmation.
Neither the White House nor the Homeland Security Department ever acknowledged that Sheriff Clarke was actually offered a job at the agency.
One thing, however, that has been confirmed is that Clarke is a cheater. According to CNN, he plagiarized sections of his master’s thesis in security studies.
In his thesis, "Making U.S. security and privacy rights compatible," Clarke failed to properly attribute his sources at least 47 times.
In all instances reviewed by CNN's KFile, Clarke lifts language from sources and credits them with a footnote, but does not indicate with quotation marks that he is taking the words verbatim.
All of this points to Clarke as a man with a record of political hypocrisy, overseeing abuse and death in his facilities, lying about job offers and cheating in academia. To anyone else, this would indicate someone you’d want to stay far away from. But not Donald Trump. He remains unwavering in his support for Clarke. In fact, just last Sunday, Trump tweeted out that Clarke was a “great guy” and that he recommends that people read Clarke’s 2017 book. Clarke may not have a job as the Milwaukee County Sheriff anymore. But his corruption and misdeeds may make him a favorable candidate for a place in this hideous administration, after all.
