Michigan Sheriff Known for Predator Stings, Peaceful Protests Appears in January 6th-Focused Biden Ad

     Sheriff Chris Swanson's story is one of worlds colliding for me. I run a project called "Dairy State Degenerates" that works to expose and stop child predators, and one of the people frequently highlighted in my posts is Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, who went viral as a new sheriff in 2020 for peacefully walking with Black Lives Matter protestors. Swanson furthered his profile with a series of predator stings that has netted some 200 predators in the past four years, several of which he did alongside Chris Hansen of To Catch a Predator.

     Now Sheriff Swanson, who previously considered a run for Congress, has appeared in an ad for President Biden. In the ad, Swanson endorsed President Biden and criticized Donald Trump for sowing division in the country. Swanson also criticized Trump for failing in his duty to support and defend the Constitution on January 6th and pinned the injuries sustained by 140 police officers that day on Trump.

     The ad, called "Stopped," was announced last month and uploaded to YouTube last week, where it has since been viewed tens of thousands of times. The ad is airing in eight swing states.

    Local Republican leader Anne DeLisle called Swanson's feature in the ad "disappointing" and said he was "well-liked in the area" but was "capitalizing on an event that happened three-and-a-half years ago" and was "very political." She also said he shouldn't be involved in politics. Her statement is a disingenuous half-truth at best.

     Swanson is a popular figure locally, but that is in large part because he doesn't act like a stereotypical sheriff. He focuses on protecting the vulnerable, including the elderly and children. He has demonstrated support and sympathy for people who might otherwise not be likely to show law enforcement the same, including people with addiction as well as protestors. Saying he shouldn't be involved in politics when sheriffs are elected and when virtually every sheriff appears in ads endorsing one congressional candidate or another at some point in their career is misdirection. If he were appearing in a Trump ad, she wouldn't have the same problem.

     Her points about January 6th are even less credible. It did occur 42 months ago this week, but that doesn't make it a thing of the past. The man responsible is running for president right now. The officers who defended the Capitol are still suffering right now. The criminal cases against these 1,500 defendants are still continuing right now. The denialism and revisionism by Trump and his supporters is going on right now. DeLisle is right about something: it is political. It was an act of political violence by Trump that culminated a monthslong effort by the Trump campaign to overturn a free and fair election, and Trump and his camp have continued to call these defendants, who are being charged and tried as any other American would, political prisoners.

     Chris Swanson is saying what more law enforcement left, right, and center should be saying: a convicted felon who organized and continues to defend the largest attack on law enforcement in American history has no business in the White House.