General John Kelly Murdered Sheriff David Clarke's White House Job Dreams

 
 He's not bothered by getting up every morning and putting on 37 pieces of flair.

A moment of silence, if you will, for the hopes and dreams of former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. He resigned his awesome sheriffing job, which left him all sorts of time to go on Fox News, because he was talking to the Trump administration abut a job in the White House. But then John Kelly, Trump's chief of staff, blocked that appointment, according to the Daily Beast, and now Clarke will have to somehow get by on the Wingnut Welfare circuit as a spokesface and "senior adviser" for America First Action, which, as the name suggests, is a pro-Trump super-PAC. Who'd have predicted he'd find another job that would let him get his scowling face and cowboy hat (it scowls, too) on Fox News all the time?

Four sources working in and close to the Trump White House said his failure to land a gig in the West Wing or at the Department of Homeland Security, where Clarke unsuccessfully sought a job earlier this year, was in large part the result of opposition from White House chief of staff John Kelly. Kelly led DHS until late July.

Clarke was up for some kind of job doing communications or outreach at the White House, because this administration's idea of communicating is to get some idiot from Fox News yelling at the American people, who will damn well like it. Unfortunately, Kelly got in the way, and according to one "senior White House official," the prospect of a West Wing job for Clarke became a "non-starter." Turns out John Kelly was also the one who ultimately put the kibosh on Clarke's hopes for a job at Homeland Security earlier this year, while Kelly was still DHS secretary:

Kelly had informed Clarke that an appointment to that department would not happen in part due to scandal surrounding the treatment of inmates in Clarke’s jail, and the ensuing negative media attention. According to two sources familiar with the discussions, this led to Clarke formally “rescinding” his intention to join the Trump administration in mid-June.

Huh! So it wasn't just his paperwork that was out of order. The whole nominee was out of order.

So that's how many wingnut TV morons that Kelly has gotten fired or never-hired, now? Anthony Scaramucci, Seb Gorka, that Bannon guy, and for all we know, Joe Arpaio as director of Latino outreach? The Daily Beast also reminds us of another appointment Kelly fended off:

At DHS, Kelly had personally shot down an idea, supported by some officials in the Trump White House, to have immigration ultra-hardliner Kris Kobach as deputy secretary of homeland security.

Thank goodness Trump found Kobach a nice voter suppression commission to help run.

Clarke's dedication to head-busting-based law enforcement was clearly in line with Donald Trump's own preference for the old days, when demonstrators could be beaten up and carried out on stretchers. But his management of the Milwaukee County Jail, where several prisoners have died, seems to have bothered John Kelly for some reason, even though many others in the administration seemed just fine with it. Clarke faces federal lawsuits in the death of a prisoner who had water withheld from him for a week, and in the death of an infant after a woman in labor was denied medical care.

Those tiny public relations setbacks seem to have swayed Kelly's opinion of Clarke, even though the president himself has been shilling Clarke's recently published book on Twitter and Don Jr. thinks Clarke is the bee's bemedalled knees, and proclaimed him "America's Sheriff":

Clarke even got himself a spot in the latest lazy propaganda painting by America's Greatest Artist, Jon McNaughton:

Now, thanks to John Kelly, that vision of a confused Clarke standing next to a permanently indifferent Donald Trump, as a vampiric Rex Tillerson prepares to bite his shoulder, will forever remain just a dream.

Clarke's new place of employment, America First Action, appears to be sort of adumpingsoft landing ground for failed Trump hangers-on:

America First and its “dark money” non-profit arm also employ former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and spokeswoman Katrina Pierson. The campaign’s former digital director, Brad Parscale, acts as its chief consultant through his firm, Parscale Strategies.

Sounds like sort of a wingnut reserve, then. Once Steve Bannon and Seb Gorka engineer the real revolution, all the cast-off deplorables will be easy to pick up and return to power.

Yr Wonkette is supported by reader donations. Please click the "Donate" linky to keep us from having to go to a super-PAC.

[ Daily Beast ]