MAGA sheriff whines to Fox News after threatening Harris voters

Harris-Walz supprters

Bruce Zuchowski, a conservative, Trump-backing sheriff, appeared on Fox News to complain about backlash he experienced after a Facebook post threatening supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Zuchowski is a sheriff in Portage County, Ohio, and in a now-deleted Facebook post encouraged residents to “write down the addresses” of people with signs supporting Harris, who he referred to as a “Flip-Flopping, Lying Hyena.”

The post was accompanied with screenshots from Fox News blaming Harris and the Biden administration for problems purportedly connected to undocumented immigrants.

Zuchowski’s rhetoric was condemned by the county’s branch of the NAACP and led to Portage County Commissioner Tony Balamenti resigning from the county’s Republican Party committee.

The ACLU of Ohio then accused the sheriff of violating the First Amendment and threatened legal action in a letter addressed to the official. They wrote, “Sheriff Zuchowski has made an impermissible, unconstitutional threat against Portage County residents who wish to engage in protected First Amendment activity.”

After the ACLU’s action, Zuchowski’s post was taken down.

The county’s election board also voted to remove the sheriff’s department led by Zuchowski from the security detail providing security for the upcoming election.

Randi Clites, chair of the county’s board of elections, said in a Facebook post the decision was made in response to “perceived intimidation by our sheriff against certain voters.”

In an appearance on Tuesday’s edition of “Fox News @ Night,” Zuchowski denied that his post was a threat.

Zuchowski: I simply made a comment to some people on my personal Facebook page that we need to remember where these signs were because when there’s nowhere else to put these people – I look at it as a welcome mat for these people who supported her to meet with these people that she supported. And I guess that’s the biggest thing is, a lot of people say we don’t support her and we’re not going to allow these people to come to our houses, so what are you going to do with them, sheriff?

Echoing the Trump campaign, Zuchowski complained about Haitian migrants now residing in Springfield, Ohio. Those residents were granted Temporary Protected Status by the Department of Homeland Security in response to political violence in Haiti and are in the country legally.

Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance have promoted false and racist allegations that migrants have been stealing and eating domestic pets.

Zuchowski’s appearance—along with the screenshots he posted—highlights the role that the conservative Fox News has played for years in promoting falsehoods about migrants. Those falsehoods have consequences. A mass shooter who killed 22 in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 used rhetoric about a migrant “invasion” similar to what has been repeatedly aired on Fox.