Most of President-Elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks have been slam dunks so far. He’s made a couple of really terrible choices, however, and this might be one of the worst ones yet. Trump has nominated Florida Sheriff Chad Chronister to be the next administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Most Americans have never heard of Chronister. Here’s why he’s an absolutely awful choice to be placed in charge of a federal law enforcement agency.

Chronister is the sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida (mainly the city of Tampa). He engaged in such draconian tactics against the people of Tampa in 2020 that he’s not only unqualified to lead a federal agency but should not even be a sheriff.

Remember the idiotic “ten days to slow the spread” thing back in 2020? Sheriff Chronister went a huge step further than that. He imposed a county-wide curfew and had residents arrested for going outside to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine in Florida.

While law-abiding citizens were under fear of arrest because of COVID, Chronister completely changed his tune when the George Soros-sponsored BLM riots came to Tampa. He said that the domestic terrorist rioters were “mostly peaceful” and didn’t bother enforcing his curfew against them. Two family-owned businesses were burned to the ground by the “mostly peaceful” rioters. Multiple stores were looted and a bank branch was vandalized and destroyed. A Champs Sports store was looted and burned to the ground.

Sheriff Chronister allowed all that to happen on his watch because he supports the woke policies of the radical left. He locked down law-abiding citizens and let BLM terrorists run wild. Here’s a sample of Sheriff Chronister’s work:

Champs Sports has been looted and fully involved. #TampaProtest pic.twitter.com/kBeQnEihc5

— Luis Santana (@LuisSantana) May 31, 2020

In 2022, Chronister had a government contractor with a Department of Defense clearance arrested when the man shot a violent carjacker. The carjacking victim suffers from scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis. He felt that shooting at the carjacker was his only option to save his life. The carjacker was wounded with non-life-threatening injuries. The DoD contractor is facing 30 years in prison after Chronister arrested him for shooting a carjacker.

But the absolute worst example of Chronister’s abuse of power happened on March 30, 2020. That was the day that Chronister arrested Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne, pastor of The River at Tampa Bay Church, for holding church services during the pandemic. The Christian faith has become so downtrodden and beaten up in recent decades that most Americans don’t even understand what a profound violation this is of the First Amendment.

State, local, and federal governments have NO AUTHORITY on church grounds. None. If a church has not placed itself under the yoke of the federal government by requesting 501c3 status, the government is not allowed to interfere in that church in any way, shape, or form. The IRS can’t even ask to look at a church’s financial books if it’s a legitimate church and not a 501c3.

This is not some obscure libertarian theory from pre-Revolutionary War times. This is a federal law that’s on the books today in 2024. The Founding Fathers recognized that God was and is a higher authority than the federal government, so they restrained the federal government from interfering in church matters in any way. Federal courts have always upheld this.

During the early days of the pandemic in 2020, it was a scary time for millions of Americans. We had been duped by Communist China into thinking COVID-19 was much more dangerous than it actually was. Pastor Howard-Browne decided to hold church services for his flock, despite the perceived dangers of the coronavirus. Hundreds of congregants attended services at his church at a time when they needed solace and reassurance.

This was done in violation of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s illegal Executive Order 20-05 which prohibited large gatherings such as church services. Sheriff Chad Chronister arrested Pastor Howard-Browne for engaging in his First Amendment-protected church duties.

As Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) noted on X.com: “I’m going to call ‘em like I see ‘em. Trump’s nominee for head of DEA should be disqualified for ordering the arrest [of] a pastor who defied COVID lockdowns.”

Amen!

The good news is that it will be another six weeks before Trump takes office. He can still rescind his nomination of Chronister to lead the DEA if enough conservatives raise their voices against him. Anyone who targets Christians as Sheriff Chronister did should be barred from ever holding any public office again.