Following the terrorist attacks of 2015 in Paris, France, Clarke suggested that the Republicans should seize on the opportunity to win more seats in Congress and even the presidency the following year. "If GOP plays this politically smart they can end any chance that the Dems win the WH in 2016," he tweeted. "War is politics carried on by other means." Clarke tweeted that comment out just seven hours after the attacks occurred.

Clarke has also had his deputies follow and harass lawful dissidents. An airline passenger, riding on the same plane as Clarke, recognized the sheriff and asked if he was who the passenger thought he was; and when Clarke affirmed he indeed was the Milwaukee County sheriff, the passenger walked away shaking his head.

After the plane landed, Clarke’s deputies tailed the passenger, detained him, and questioned him for hours. And after the passenger took his complaints to the local news, the Sheriff’s Department posted a meme on Facebook, implying that if “great guy” Clarke wanted him hurt, he “wouldn’t be around to whine about it.”