Sheriff David Clarke still sounds like someone more interested in inciting violence rather than promoting calm at Donald Trump rallies.
You may recall that on Saturday, one day after a Trump rally in Chicago descended into chaos and confrontations between protesters and supporters, Clarke told Fox viewers, “If the police need a hand, to step in” and “stand up” to the “goons” protesting Trump.
Monday night, the Hannity show hosted Clarke for more.
Clarke was ostensibly there to debate one of the protesters. But “fair and balanced” Sean Hannity made sure that didn’t happen.
Hannity “asked” guest Charles Paidock, “Does it bother you that you participated in a rally with an unrepentant domestic terrorist by the name of Bill Ayers, a part of the Weather Underground that bombed the Capitol, the Pentagon, New York City police headquarters, who on the morning of September 11 was quoted as, “I wish I did more.” A friend of Obama’s… Does it bother you that that’s the type of person you’re associating with?”
As Hannity surely knows, Bill Ayers has been an upstanding citizen for decades, having turned himself in to authorities in 1980. The quote Hannity cited was not uttered on September 11 but printed in the paper on that day. Furthermore, Ayers is not a pal of Obama’s, they are casual acquaintances. And Obama has clearly never endorsed radicalism.
More importantly, while Hannity fixated on someone’s wrongdoing 50 years ago, Trump is the presidential candidate who is fostering actual violence in the here and now. He's the one whose campaign manager has had assault charges filed against him and whose lawyer threatened a reporter, saying, “So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?”
But guest Charles Paidock, one of the Chicago protesters, didn’t seem to know what a lying hypocrite Hannity is and never confronted him. “There are multiple organizers and organizations that were responsible for – I categorize it as good citizenship,” Paidock began.
Predictably, Hannity didn’t let Paidock finish his thought before starting to bully him.
Clarke, of course, had the opportunity to speak as much as he wanted. What he said sounded a lot like he was endorsing more violence.
CLARKE: Sean, this is a totalitarian movement. …They have been unmasked. …They know that Trump is a threat now to their moving in and disrupting our ordered liberty here in the United States.
…This wasn’t an attempt to engage in peaceful protest. I’m tired of couching it in those terms. This is not peaceful protest, alright? This is chaos, this is disorder, this is a disturbance, alright? And it’s getting in other people’s face.
I heard that Donald Trump should ramp it down a little bit. I thought, are you nuts? I’ve been in elections. What you want to do with your base, responsibly, and I think he is, is you want them at a fever pitch. You want them energized to get out and vote for you.
Yeah, and if someone get knocked out in the process, it’s all for the good, apparently.
Don’t forget this is a sheriff speaking.
Watch it above, from the March 14 Hannity.
(crossposted from Newshounds.us)
