Donald Trump's plea for black votes was a "brilliant move," as Democrats and liberal policies have failed the African-American community, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said Tuesday.
"There seems to be no sense of urgency on the part of anybody [in] the hellhole cities," Clarke, who is African-American, told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "The American ghetto has replaced the plantation where Democrats have a large segment of black people herded on to, miserable conditions, inescapable poverty."
And as a result, children end up in failing public schools, Clarke continued, and there is "massive unemployment, crime, violence, and disorder" because Democrats "have wrecked great American cities with this Progressive urban policy."
Clarke said he and Trump spoke when the nominee was in Milwaukee about the urban issues not only in Milwaukee, but in other major cities such as Baltimore and Chicago.
"More people have been murdered in the city of Chicago since the beginning of 2016 — 455 people have been murdered, mostly black — than coalition forces in Afghanistan since the start of [President Barack] Obama's second term in 2013?" said Clarke.
He does think Trump's appeal to black voters will work, if he sticks with it.
"I'm with black people a lot," said Clarke. "Here's what they tell me: 'We want to hear it. We want people to see the Democrats don't ask for their vote.' They just automatically assume that it's going to happen, they take it for granted."
Over time, he said he believes black voters will find it "refreshing" that someone is working for their votes, "because the black vote has unfortunately, monolithically gone to the Democrats, but the Democrats have taken blacks for granted. I think over time, this thing is going to change."
Clarke also responded to complaints that Black Lives Matter groups protesters have not mobilized to help victims of the flooding in Louisiana, telling the program that that is "typical of the phony nature of these groups."
"They don't' care about anybody's life," said Clarke. "They only care about political power . . . This operation has exploited people for purely political power. I'm not shocked. I told you this was a political construct."
He also slammed President Barack Obama for waiting until his vacation ended to visit the flood zone.
"He's an elitist. He's in Martha's Vineyard and they're struggling down there," he said. "They're resilient down there in Louisiana. They didn't wait around for him to do anything . . . He'll do the obligatory thing now that the vacation is over. He'll do the photo-op. Hug a couple of people and get on Air Force One and go about his day. "
He also accused Obama of being a "race hustler" who "views everything through the prism of race."
"He engages in race politics," he said. "Every time you turn around this guy could take a bowl of corn flakes with chocolate milk poured in it and he could find a racist angle to it."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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