Donald Trump frequently appears at campaign rallies I declare “Crime is more prevalent and out of control than ever before.” He claims the country’s capital is a “nightmare of murder and crime”. When people from Georgia go to Washington, they get shot. ” In New York City, “you go outside and people are being robbed and killed all day long.”
If elected president in 2024, President Trump would close the border with Mexico, deport millions of illegal immigrants living in the United States, send the National Guard to clean up crime-ridden cities, and impose tougher laws. It states that federal subsidies will be withheld from local governments that do not adopt the system.Even if soft-on-crime Democratic governors and mayors fail to take enforcement action. approve.
President Trump was asked about data showing a decline in murders and other violent crimes. answered“The FBI fudged the numbers, and other people fudged the numbers. There’s no way crime went down last year. It can’t be helped because there’s immigrant crime. Are they increasing immigrant crime? Or are they? Do they consider it another form of crime?”
Unsurprisingly, there is no evidence for these claims. Cynically creating and disseminating “alternative facts” seems so natural for the former president that his tombstone reads, “Here lies Donald Trump…as always.” It’s so engraved.
Candidate Trump made false statements in 2016 claimed that The U.S. homicide rate was “the highest in 45 years.” He claimed that the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ estimate of an unemployment rate of 4.9% is “phony” and that the actual unemployment rate is 42%.
Two months after taking office, Trump boasted about the department’s hiring announcements. This number “may have been false in the past,” he told press secretary Sean Spicer. tell me Reporter: “But now they’re very real.”
As with his 2016 lie about unemployment, Trump is now playing on a hypothetical situation. Repent And sadly, many voters are buying what he’s selling.
Crime has increased significantly, with murders soaring by a whopping 29 percent. Occurred During the 2020 pandemic when Trump was president.That same year, eight of the ten states with the highest homicide rates voted for trump. In 2021, the murder rate increased by another 4.3% and violent crime decreased by 1%. It is noteworthy that serious crime rates remain well below 1990s levels.
Since then, many organizations, including the Criminal Justice Council, the Metropolitan Mayors Association, local and state law enforcement agencies, and the FBI, have agreed that crime is declining in urban and rural areas. 6% decrease nationwide In 2022, the number of homicides will decrease, and in 2023, it will decrease by another 13%. according to AH Datalytics co-founder Jeff Asher said, “Homicides are almost certainly declining at the fastest rate ever recorded.” The decline in violent crime nationwide appears to have continued into the first quarter of 2024.
Unsurprisingly, progress has been uneven. In 2023, homicides increased by 9 percent in Los Angeles, 8 percent in St. Louis, and 23 percent in Denver. Homicides decreased by 18% in New York City and by 24% in Washington, DC.
There is no evidence that there is a wave of immigrant crime. Additionally, Richard Burke, professor emeritus of criminology and statistics at the University of Pennsylvania, said: Note It can be said as follows. [for example] Philadelphia police are colluding with the Biden administration’s FBI to falsify results, “but that’s just a stupid conspiracy theory.”
and it is misleading To put a partisan spin on the spike in violent crime. The argument that “crime is a crime problem in blue states and blue cities” is invalid. claim said Jim Kessler, executive vice president of public policy think tank Third Way. After controlling for demographic and economic differences and the proportion of the urban population, the conservative Manhattan Institute found that concluded “There is no difference between Trump’s voter share and the murder rate at the county or state level.”
Nevertheless, in November 2023, 77% of Americans told Gallup pollsters Crime has increased in the past year. Fears of a crime wave are likely fueled by politics and media coverage, as only 17% of people said crime was a serious problem in their area. . A quarter of Republicans’ ads attacking Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterm elections focused on crime. September and October 2022, FOX News broadcasted 141 news segments about crime. And President Trump continues to make crime a centerpiece of his campaign to retake the White House.
Whether the subject is a crime wave, a stolen election, or a weaponized Justice Department, the truth often cannot negate the “alternative facts” that appeal to implicit or overt bias and fear. . Especially when bipartisan political loyalty, lack of trust in experts, and siled sources of news and “information” are so ingrained in our political culture.
We need politicians, as well as community leaders and ordinary citizens, to publicly deny that the ‘post-fact’ world is a clear and present danger to democracy. Ask tough questions about the motives, sincerity, veracity, and authority of those who promote “alternative facts.” And we will hold them accountable for betraying the trust of voters.
Glenn C. Altshuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor Emeritus of American Studies at Cornell University.
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