The Disappearance of Sheriff Clarke

It was not long ago that former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke was a national media darling, appearing frequently on Fox News and other venues. He was under consideration for several different positions with the Trump administration,  and as recently as last November, Saturday Night Live felt Clarke was important enough to do a parody of him.

But his star was already descending by then. A story by the Daily Beast reports that the “one-time Fox News regular.. was effectively ‘banned’ last year by the network… The decision was more sweeping than the ‘soft bans’ that Fox has imposed on other guests or contributors.”

In short, no one at the station wants him on their program. 

Clarke’s explanation to the Daily Beast, through an unnamed “assistant” to the sheriff (was it really Clarke himself responding?) was that “after years of appearing as a ‘guest host’ on Fox,” he no longer wanted “to work for free for them while they made money on ratings off of him” and spoke to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott in late 2017 about becoming a paid contributor. After that he never heard again from Scott — or any Fox News producers.

“It may have had something to do with the very liberal Rupert Murdoch boy taking over after Roger Ailes and Bill Shine, who was in charge of programming, were let go. Ailes and Bill Shine liked the Sheriff,” Clarke’s “assistant” wrote in an email to the Daily Beast. 

Ah yes, the “very liberal Rupert Murdoch boy,” that’s just the kind of language a professional PR person would use.

An alternative theory on Clarke’s dumping was offered to the Daily Beast by “a source familiar with the situation”: The ex-law man’s “rhetoric became crazier and crazier and most shows refused to use him,” the source said.

Nor is that the only conservative organization dumping “America’s Sheriff”, as Clarke liked to call himself. “Two knowledgeable sources confirmed that Clarke is also no longer a senior adviser and spokesman for pro-Trump super PAC America First Action,” which gave him a position after he failed to get a post in the Trump administration. That might be an even bigger blow as that was a paid position.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.