Democrats have an image of being both elitist and soft on crime, and given their razor-thin margin of congressional control, that’s going to bite them in the hindquarters in the 2022 midterms.
Democratic strategist James Carville knows it, and he’s both claiming those problems don’t exist while at the same time telling fellow Democrats to knock it off.
Carville, who was also Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign manager, can’t deny crime is spiking — especially in Democratic-run cities — so he’s trying to shift the blame to former President Trump.
"Democrats, the case is clear: The Republicans, and Trump's lawless, soon-to-be-indicted ass are the reason crime is rising," he tweeted.
In an accompanying Wall Street Journal commentary, Carville observed that "From 1993 to 2019, crime steadily decreased in the U.S.," but then rose sharply in 2020, Trump’s final full year in office.
Although he gives the year when crime spiked, he failed to mention either the exact date when it took a turn for the worse, or the event that prompted it: May 25, 2020, the death of George Floyd.
Up until the time that Floyd was killed at the hands, or rather the knee, of Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin, everything was fine. Then the rioting, looting, arson, and even murder began skyrocketing. And Democrats not only condoned it — they promoted it.
During a June 2020 interview with "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert, then-vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris gleefully said of the nationwide rioting that "They’re not going to stop. This is a movement," adding, "Beware, they’ not going to stop before election day, and they’re not going to stop after election day."
Three months later Harris endorsed the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which was set up to bail rioters out of jail.
"If you’re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota," Harris tweeted, together with a link to donate.
A video released in September depicted Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., actually excusing the rioting.
"We are in the midst of an ongoing uprising over centuries of racial neglect and oppression," she said. Omar was a Somali refugee who, in April 2019, described the 9/11 al-Qaida terrorist attack as "some people who did something."
Last week actress and former Democratic New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon announced her support for shoplifting in order to "make ends meet."
"The CVS on my corner has started locking up basic items like clothing detergent," she said. "As so many families can’t make ends meet right now, I can’t imagine thinking that the way to solve the problem of people stealing basic necessities out of desperation is to prosecute them."
This was in response to a report that it "several candidates for Manhattan district attorney (and for New York City mayor) say shoplifting should not be prosecuted because that’s 'criminalizing poverty.'"
Defunding or reimagining the police — the "thin blue line" that separates order from chaos — has become popular among Democratic leaders.
Most recently Atlanta city councilman and mayoral candidate Antonio Brown, who is running on a promise to defund the police, found himself in a moral dilemma. When his car got stolen Wednesday by four or five kids while he was standing right beside it, the first call he made was to the city police department.
He declined to press charges when the police returned his car to him, asking: "Why aren’t they in school?"
Chances are he can blame his own party for that.
Incidentally, Brown is under indictment on several federal fraud charges, which may be the real reason he wants to defund law enforcement.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is now selling T-shirts that say, "Abolish ICE" while Biden’s border crisis is getting completely out of control.
Finally, during the 2016 presidential campaign, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton hatched a scheme to incite violence at Trump campaign events. This was caught on a Project Veritas undercover video. The video’s release resulted in the resignation of a key Clinton operative.
Even the media played a role. The Associated Press, whose writing stylebook is considered the bible for journalists,cautioned writers to avoid using the word "riot" to describe a riot.
They suggested using "unrest" instead — a kinder, gentler word, but hardly accurate.
Carville’s claim that the Democratic Party is "the anti-crime party" is a delusional attempt at gaslighting the American electorate — and they’re too smart to buy it.
He was, however, right about one thing.
On Wednesday he observed that "So often, Democrats come across with this metropolitan arrogance, urban smugness that people feel, and it hurts us," and he warned them "don’t be so smug about everything" if they want to win elections.
But they won’t. Smugness is in their DNA.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.