WAX: Make Sheriffs Great Again

Screenshot via C-SPAN

America is teetering toward one-party rule in Washington, D.C. Waiting for a Republican Congress isn’t a real strategy. Instead, the right must focus locally, principally on the county sheriff with Sheriff Bill Waybourn as a role model, to revive America.

It should be obvious by now, but too many conservatives and Republicans still do not fully get how stacked the cards are against them. The left may still be reeling from President Donald Trump’s impact in 2016, but for the most part, they haven’t lost any ground.

Whether it’s the culture war or politics, the left has home-court advantage. That’s because it’s at the helm of nearly every institution and powerful corporation steering society today. From academia to the media and even previous conservative strongholds like the military and churches, the left dominates.

Last year, I noted that police unions were among the very few right-leaning institutions in the country. The left remains on the offensive against the police, despite skyrocketing violent crime rates nationwide.

Even more important to defend is the institution of the county sheriff. The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, or CSPOA, calls the county sheriff the “last hope” for freedom in America.

One of those last hopes is Texas’ Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, who won a second term in the 2020 election cycle. Waybourn won the endorsement of CSPOA’s founder and former sheriff Richard Mack in 2016. His record since then should earn the upright respect from every concerned American who desires local control, not bureaucratic supremacy from D.C.

Before getting into Waybourn’s effectiveness with regards to immigration, law, and order, and community-building compassion, let’s first reflect on the uniqueness of the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff is independent from so much of the elite power centers threatening America today. He answers directly to the people who elected him. His oath to the Constitution is the same as anyone else in government, but the distinction for the office of sheriff is that he has enforcement power.

That means the sheriff can stand between the citizenry and a federal government bent on infringing upon their liberties. Sheriff Mack’s lawsuit against the feds over the Brady Act gun control law was a seminal effort that solidified this unique role in the eyes of the US Supreme Court.

Mack’s lawsuit eventually became known as Printz vs. United States. This SCOTUS case sided with Mack’s argument that the federal government shall not command the sheriff to do its bidding, in this case, perform a federal background check for gun purchases. This principle is known as the anti-commandeering doctrine.

If more sheriffs, along with their constituent electorates, embraced this principle wholeheartedly, then pushing back against unconstitutional encroachments would come more naturally.

Unfortunately, too many so-called leaders in the conservative movement don’t highlight this political tactic, because it bypasses the lucrative roles that D.C.-centered politicians and strategists have created for themselves.

Sheriff Waybourn shows the way for a successful populist strategy that isn’t dependent on winning a federal election. By virtue of his line of work, he’s closer to the issues facing people than far-off bureaucrats.

Before he was sheriff, Waybourn already had decades of experience in law enforcement. In 1984, at just 24 years old he was appointed chief of public safety, making him Texas’ youngest chief in history. He served in that role for three decades before winning the election to become the sheriff of Tarrant County, which includes the city of Fort Worth.

There’s no room for political correctness in a sheriff’s line of duty. Waybourn doesn’t go out of his way to be necessarily politically incorrect, but he doesn’t hesitate to speak to the real conflicts of “good and evil.”

He’s raised the ire of local and national media for pointing to the failures of federal enforcement of immigration laws. He brought attention to the fact that illegal immigrants come into his jails sometimes repeatedly for drunk driving charges, not unlike citizens do as well, but he rightfully brought attention to the matter. This impact on his county is the result of a derelict central government, but it otherwise would’ve gone ignored thanks to political correctness.

All the same, Waybourn wants the federal government to improve, particularly in its cooperation with state and local law enforcement, and vice-versa. Waybourn has expressed his frustration with all levels of government that impede US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or his department from communicating with one another over inmate transfers.

The sheriff is uniquely placed to keep federal agencies accountable to his community. Waybourn exemplifies this role, despite the political and media pressure to do otherwise. That’s why he spoke at a local Stop the Steal rally to turn over all the rocks and provide transparency and accountability.

Waybourn also rapidly built a reputation of being tough on the demand side of prostitution and human trafficking. His department is invested in the National Johns Suppression program, which targets the johns or solicitors of prostitution. Last year, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office booked 41 suspects on such charges.

But sheriffs do more for their communities than keep law and order. There is a place for compassion, the real kind, not the sort of undermining that the left perpetuates in the name of empathy or equity. For instance, Waybourn increased work programs for inmates staying or leaving his jails, and he instituted the first Christmas for Children of the Incarcerated, which provides gifts for hundreds of kids whose parents are behind bars.

Programs like these are just an extension of who Waybourn is as a man. He’s a dad to 10 kids, eight of whom are adopted. He’s brought that fatherliness to coaching, scout leading, and serving in his church.

There are still hundreds of communities with local institutions and leaders like this in them across America. The populist right has to start looking there, not for a future congressman or president, but a sheriff who will stay loyal to them against all threats foreign and domestic.

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of TrumpTrainNews.com


Gavin Wax is the 75th President of the New York Young Republican Club, Chairman of the New York Republican Liberty Caucus, an Ambassador for Turning Point USA, and an Associate Fellow at the London Center for Policy Research. You can follow him on Twitter at @GavinWax.


  1. The left, with help of drive by media, is trying it’s very best to reduce law enforcemente to zero, and they are succeeding, that is obvious. It’s pillage and burn, mass shootings on the news daily, and oh how the drive by media enjoys it. The majority of republicans will fiddle while the DemoCraps succeed at every destructive political turn. Let’s be frank, the majority of voters of this country are illegals, and liberal sympathizers, and with the help of ‘voting machines’ control elections. With that scenario, we are done as a country. Those that do not understand that have their heads you know where.

    1. These illegals don’t care about America’s history either, constitution, laws, or founding fathers. They’re here for a free ride.

    2. Sounds like you are ready to jump off a bridge. Not any FAITH in America? Remember a band of rag-tag farmers were told by the Redcoats to lay their guns down. They shot them. Now we have America.

  2. I live in Georgia and my sheriff stated, just yesterday, that he will never enforce an EO that overrides our constitutional rights!

  3. I have a great Sherriff who takes no BS.
    People need to pay very close attention to they elect locally. It’s extremely important to know your Sherriff, who’s in your school boards and city councils. Pay attention parents.

  4. I’m wondering why Tarrant County has not yet declared itself a 2nd Amendment Sanctuary. I always thought Dallas was the radical leftwing part of the metroplex and Fort Worth leaned toward the conservative side. I keep tabs on this issue and when a state becomes a Sanctuary State, I presume all the counties are sanctuaries by default.

    Currently, Texas has 80 counties that proclaim 2nd Amendment Sanctuary but that’s only about 31 percent of the state. In my mind, I’ve guessed the other 174 counties, 69 percent of the state, don’t see a need due to the natural low incidence of crime and the conservative nature of Texas citizens. Perhaps they’re waiting for the state legislature to finally declare Texas to be a Sanctuary State.

  5. THESE ARE 99.5% AMERICAN MEN, WHO DO THEIR JOBS AND STAND BY U.S. CITIZENS AND DO NOT PUT UP WITH THE LIKES OF BLM, ANTIFA, ETC.
    GOD BLESS AND PROTECT THEM, AS THE NEW AMERICAN POLICITCAL PARTYSLIMEBALLS WON’T…..

  6. We are in similar days as in the Days of Noah where lawlessness, and violence abounds. People doing whats right in their. own eyes instead of observing law and order. Its a wake up call for all people, I don’t care what race or nationality you are. Genesis 6:5 “God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of his heart was only evil continually.” Look at the parallel to today’s world. Genesis 6:11. “the earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence.” Isaiah 5:20. “Woe to them who call evil good, and good evil.” Our Nation’s morality has sunk to a dangerous place. God is trying to shake us from lethargy and wake us up. The world may acknowledge their belief in the existence of God, but they live as though God does not exist.

  7. It’s like the left wants a free for all when it comes to crime, and then they don’t want to be held responsible. A police officer can’t even do the job he or she was hired to do without scrutiny. We can make a difference
    when we support the men and women in blue.

  8. LAW AND ORDER IMMEDIATELY. STATES THAT DON’T COMPLY WILL HAVE STIFF CONSEQUENCES IMMEDIATELY. DO THE JOB TO REPRESENT THE AMERICAN PATRIOTS OR GET FIRED IMMEDIATELY. GO ABOUT AS A REGULAR WORKING AMERICAN. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. NO PUSSYFOOTING AROUND.

  9. We must support our Constitution (which our politicians, government and law enforcement has sworn to do) in every way. Our country has been the light on the hill because of our freedom, our Christian based way of life, and our respect for our laws and people who risk their lives to keep us safe. I pray we can get back to the framework for which we have been pleased by God and our founding fathers and leave our children the same type of blessed life we were given in this country.

  10. A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO I ATTENDED A CSPOA CONVENTION AS A CASUAL OBSERVER, NOT A MEMBER. WOW, WAS I IMPRESSED ! I TALKED WITH ONE SHERIFF THAT STATED IF HE HAD TO, HE WOULD DEPUTIZE A 1000 MEN TO THROW THE FEDS OUT OF HIS COUNTY. I ASKED ONE SHERIFF IF HE WOULD BE WILLING TO ORGANIZE A MILITIA AND LEAD A RESISTANCE TO FEDERAL TYRANNY ? HE REPLIED “I ALREADY HAVE” ! PEOPLE, IF YOUR SHERIFF IS ELECTED AND HE TOOK AN OATH OF OFFICE TO PROTECT AND TO DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION, TELL HIM ABOUT THE CSPOA. THE COUNTY SHERIFF IS THE LAST LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST THE FEDERAL SOCIALIST SCUM !

  11. I have often asked why the county sheriffs have not arrested those politicians who are committing treason on all levels, local, state and federal?

    Aren’t they supposed to protect and defend the Constitution?

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