Never one to mince words, Sheriff David Clarke today blamed President Obama for creating the racial unrest that led to the police massacre in Dallas. During his appearance on Fox Business, Clarke spoke in measured tones, but his extreme dislike of the president and his policies came through loud and clear.
Clarke wasn’t impressed by Obama’s remarks in Warsaw earlier today, where he condemned the “vicious, calculated and despicable” attack on police officers.
“I don’t believe there’s any sincerity behind the president’s words,” Clarke began. “Just yesterday he was popping off at the mouth again — exploiting the situations in Louisiana and Minnesota — exploiting it on the basis of race. He has no foundation for that. There’s no data or research that suggests or proves anything he thinks in terms of disparity.”
Obama posted a screed on Facebook Thursday afternoon that blamed the police for the racial disparities within the criminal justice system. “All Americans should recognize the anger, frustration, and grief that so many Americans are feeling,” Obama wrote. “What’s clear is that these fatal shootings are not isolated incidents. They are symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system, the racial disparities that appear across the system year after year, and the resulting lack of trust that exists between law enforcement and too many of the communities they serve.”
The Milwaukee sheriff offered the president his own statistic about racial disparity.
“Forty percent of law enforcement officers in the country that are killed in the line of duty are killed by black men,” Clarke said, pointing out that blacks only represent about fifteen percent of the population. “When you look at that, there’s some disparity there.”
He argued that the president’s “irresponsible rhetoric fuels this sort of thing.” He continued, “it fuels this rage and anger that is already bubbling inside people who are looking to release that — and they hear that dog-whistle message out of the president every time he opens his mouth after one of these horrific incidents where a law enforcement officer unfortunately has to use force during the line of duty.”
Clarke pointed out that Obama never allows an investigation to take place before he publicly makes assumptions about the case, but in the wake of the cop massacre, he said he wanted “to wait for the facts to emerge.”
“Well, that’s a first for him,” Clarke said, barely able to conceal his contempt for the president.
The sheriff went on to say that “the best thing that could happen for the United States of America is January 20, when President Obama leaves the White House for the last time and we end up with a new commander in chief.” He added, “And I hope it’s the guy who’s shown unambiguous support for the American law enforcement officer — and that’s Donald Trump.”
Clarke concluded his appearance by getting a few digs in on Hillary Clinton.
“I notice yesterday, Mrs. Bill Clinton as well took time to come out of her hiding (which she’s good at doing) and threw up the hashtag Black Lives Matter.” He also said that it was “irresponsible” of her to pander to people’s “rage and anger” for political gain.
“But again, politics trumps everything else for those two people,” Clarke concluded.
The head of the National Association of Police Organizations echoed Clarke’s comments during an interview with Fox Friday morning.
“I think [the Obama administration’s] continued appeasements at the federal level with the Department of Justice, their appeasement of violent criminals, their refusal to condemn movements like Black Lives Matter, actively calling for the death of police officers, that type of thing, all the while blaming police for the problems in this country has led directly to the climate that has made Dallas possible,” said William Johnson, the executive director of the police advocacy group.
“I think one of the big differences then was you had governors and mayors and the president — whether it was President Johnson or President Nixon, Republican or Democrat — condemning violence against the police and urging support for the police,” Johnson said. “Today that’s markedly absent. I think that’s a huge difference, and that’s directly led to the climate that allows these attacks to happen.”
“It’s a war on cops,” Johnson continued. “And the Obama administration is the Neville Chamberlain of this war.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member