President-elect Donald Trump recently appointed Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration. The decision has left many wondering how Sheriff Chronister was chosen for the role. Interestingly, there seems to be a trend of appointing individuals with ties to Florida in Trump’s administration. For instance, Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi also has roots in Hillsborough County, having begun her political career as a prosecutor there.
This is the announcement.
🚨BREAKING: Trump just nominated Sheriff Chad Chronister for Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). pic.twitter.com/2quKTs0apl
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) November 30, 2024
In the cold light of the “morning after,” many things are surfacing that indicate Sheriff Chronister, no matter his competence as a law enforcement officer, may not be in sync with President Trump’s vision for the federal government.
Pride Month Booster
The nominee for DEA Administrator celebrating Pride Month.
— DeSantis Appreciation Society (@KickboxerEsq) December 1, 2024
“The Most Democratic of Republicans”
“The right’s gone way too far right for me,” he says. “So where does that leave a lot of Republicans — a lot of people?” – Chad Chronister
This is the next DEA head. A never trumper Covidian wokester. https://t.co/6RRwEteB9S
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) December 1, 2024
He believes Republicans are too far right.
When I ask him about all this , Chronister says he is “the most Democratic of Republicans,” a “hybrid of both parties,” fiscally conservative, socially Democrat. Actually, he was a Democrat until people convinced him you should have the same party affiliation as the sheriff for whom you work. He doesn’t think of the office as partisan anyway.
Democrat Donor
1). Chronister is a flip-flopping opportunist. The former Democrat is running again as a Republican, but his background of support shows he still is a Democrat at heart. Chronister has given tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats including $15,000 to Barack Obama for President, and thousands to such assorted partisan Democrats including: Congressman Charlie Crist, Mayor Jane Castor, and Congresswoman Kathy Castor. Chronister has also contributed at least $5,000 to the Democrat National Committee. In short, for someone with an “R” after his name, he looks curiously like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Support of DEI
“We have a lot of vacancies now,” Hill said. “Most all of them are due to retirement because the Sheriff’s Office grew substantially back in the late ’70s and early ’80s. It grew by leaps and bounds and those individuals are starting to hit their retirement age.”
Now, the void left by retirees is being filed by a younger, increasingly more diverse crowd of African-Americans, Hispanics, women and military veterans according to Lozada. Currently, 17 percent of all HCSO employees are African-American, another 17 percent are Hispanic, 2 percent are Asian and 34 percent are female.
Last year, HCSO held its first Women in Law Enforcement Job Fair to encourage women to join the male-dominated Sheriff’s Office. More than 250 women attended the event.
“Law enforcement is an occupation that females excel in,” Hill said. “I know it firsthand. When I started in this business I was trained by one.”
Supports Red Flag Gun Confiscation
Chronister believes it has already kept something terrible from happening.
“You can never measure what you prevented,” he said. “Is it working? It absolutely is.”
Punished Employees for No COVID Vaccine
“I put out a policy a while ago that if you are unvaccinated and you have to quarantine or you get ill you have to use your own accrued time. If you are vaccinated and you get sick the sheriff’s office will cover your time off,” said Chad Chronister. https://t.co/R3XMV4Qmwo
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) December 1, 2024
Arrested Pastor for Holding Service During Lockdown
Perhaps the cherry on top of this mass of flaming progressivism is his ordering the arrest of a pastor for holding services during COVID’s lockdown phase ().
The “full story” is that Democrat State Attorney Andrew Warren (Warren is a Soros-funded prosecutor who was removed from office by Rick DeSantis) issued the arrest warrant for holding services. Allegedly, he warned the pastor several times before authorizing his arrest. Governor DeSantis stepped in and shut down the order forbidding church services.
Refused to Stop BLM Rioters
During the George Floyd riots Of May 31st, 2020 he told his deputies to stand down and multiple buildings were burned down. Businesses Plazas were burned down and the Walmart on Fowler in Tampa was completely looted.https://t.co/n81YECFnVC
— Scott84HendersonFL1776 (@SangerEatbabies) December 1, 2024
This refusal extended to the attack on the Hillsborough County Jail.
At the height of the Black Lives Matter riots, anarchists assembled at the Hillsborough County Jail on Orient Road and began to rip down the gate at the jail’s Sally Port where prisoners are brought into the facility. Jail deputies were ordered to stand-down as they watched rioters destroy public property. None of the anarchists were arrested. One detention deputy at the jail told me, “It was ridiculous that we were not allowed to do anything, and no one was arrested, and it has deeply affected morale.”
Soft on Immigration
A strong immigration law, Senate Bill 1718, went into effect on July 1, 2023. Chronister doesn’t seem to have been all that interested in it.
It’s a message that brought some relief to people concerned with the new immigration law.
“Having the Sheriff coming out and explaining that he’s not going to enforce this law is something positive for the community,” said Ana Lamb, a Hispanic Community activist.
Bottom Line
If this is the kind of guy President Trump wants running the DEA, it is his right to nominate him. We are under no obligation to turn a blind eye to a guy with a record that looks very much like the people we want to get out of the federal government. I hope President Trump reconsiders this ill-considered nomination, but if he doesn’t, I hope there are at least four GOP senators who will do what he won’t.
