Kristen Clarke is Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. She’s an odd pick, or would be in a normal administration, given her history of sponsoring anti-Semitism and advancing the idea that Blacks are superior to Whites.
Clarke will argue that this happened long ago, during her college days. However, she is on record as holding another nominee to what he said while in college, and insisting that he not be confirmed because of it.
Clarke’s problems are hardly limited to her college days, though. She’s been active on Twitter in very recent years, and some of her tweets are problematic, to say the least.
For example, in January 2019, Clarke promoted Jussie Smollett’s bogus hate crime allegations in posts on Twitter. She also criticized the Chicago police department for seeking access to Smollett’s cell phone.
Are Senators like Joe Manchin, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski comfortable turning the Civil Rights Division over to someone who uncritically accepts dubious hate crime claims and attacks law enforcement officials for trying to determine the truth of such claims? We’ll see.
There is reason to believe that these Senators are uncomfortable with nominees who attack them, personally. Neera Tanden found that out the hard way.
Clarke checks that box, too. In February 2017, she blasted Sen. Manchin for voting to confirm Jeff Sessions as attorney general. When Manchin praised Martin Luther King, Clarke accused him of uttering “hollow words.”
As for Sen. Murkowski, Clarke called her “shameful.” Murkowski’s sin? She voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported on Clarke’s problematic tweets earlier this month. It now reports that Clarke has restricted access to her Twitter account.
But her tweets stand as evidence of her intemperance and contempt for even moderate politicians who don’t fully subscribe to her radical agenda. She cut no slack to Manchin and Murkowski when they voted to confirm respected conservative nominees (including their former colleague, Jeff Sessions). Now, these Senators should cut Clarke no slack, regardless of how apologetic she pretends to be at her confirmation hearing.
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