Radical right-wing rabble-rouser David A. Clarke Jr., the infamous former sheriff of Milwaukee County, was temporarily barred from Twitter for violating the social media site’s terms of service.
Twitter users filed complaints that three of his tweets seemed to be calling for violence against members of the media.
For example, Clarke tweeted the following message, which has since been deleted, according to Huffington Post:
“When LYING LIB MEDIA makes up FAKE NEWS to smear me, the ANTIDOTE is to go right at them. Punch them in the nose & MAKE THEM TASTE THEIR OWN BLOOD. Nothing gets a bully like LYING LIB MEDIA”S attention better than to give them a taste of their own blood #neverbackdown.”
That particular tweet was also accompanied with a graphic of two wrestlers taking down a third wrestler. Donald Trump’s face was superimposed over the wrestler holding the third one, which was labeled “CNN.” Clarke’s face was superimposed on a wrestler kicking the “CNN” wrestler.
Twitter informed Clarke, according to its terms of service, that users “may not make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people.”
Apparently Sheriff Clarke knew this but chose to ignore it.
When Twitter heard the complaints against Clarke, they responded to one user in an email shared with CNN:
“We have reviewed the account you reported and have locked it because we found it to be in violation of the Twitter Rules: https://support.twitter.com/articles/18311. If the account owner complies with our requested actions and stated policies, the account will be unlocked.”
Clarke, an unabashed Trump supporter whose account was read-only for a time until Twitter unlocked it again, has since responded on Twitter.
“I know I’m winning. Some snowflake lib made a complaint to Twitter because of my earlier tweet about Black kids being exploited by lefty failed policies at Ballou High School. I said in my tweet, this CRAP is criminal. Twitter said no violation of rules. Diaper change time.”
Clarke, 61, born and raised in Milwaukee, was elected sheriff of Milwaukee County in 2002 and remained in that role until his resignation in 2017. His tenure was punctuated by scores of violations and tragedies, including an inmate who died from being denied water for too long, and a woman who was raped inside the jail. Clarke, who attained national notoriety for his penchant for incendiary conservative rhetoric and demagoguery, never apologized or took responsibility for any of these incidents under his watch.
