Violent Crime Way Down During Pandemic, But Trump Needs to Instill Fear to Win Reelection

The pandemic has reduced crime rates significantly in the United States during the first six months of the year.

Miami Herald: Data shows that crime was immediately impacted by coronavirus lockdowns, David Abrams, professor of law, business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in his report “COVID and Crime: Key Findings.”

“Across almost all of the cities examined, crime fell a tremendous amount — to overall levels over 23% below the average of the same time period in the previous 5 years,” Abrams wrote.

Some decrease had been expected because of Covid-19 shutdowns across the country which reduced travel, shopping, nightlife and overall economic activity.

The Report also noted a 15% drop in violent crime, although homicide rates were flat.

Another survey of 25 large American cities known as the Uniform Crime Report also noted an overall decrease in violent crime but an increase in homicides in New York, New Orleans, and Chicago, among others. The increase in some cities seems connected to domestic violence, but more research is needed on that point.

Donald Trump would like you to ignore the overall drop in violence and focus on the handful of cities experiencing an increase . The President wants Americans to think that violent criminals are running rampant across the nation and that his reelection is the only way to restore order. He has threatened to send federal agents to a variety of large cities, not because they are needed or even welcome, but because it makes good theater.

Axios: "If Biden got in, that would be true for the country," Trump told reporters Monday after saying more agents would be deployed. "The whole country would go to hell. And we’re not going to let it go to hell."

Trump desperately needs Americans to forget his botched coronavirus response, so he will stoke additional unrest in American cities by sending in federal agents which will inspire more protests as it has in Oregon.

Vanity Fair: "The political strategy is as transparent as it is cynical. With the American coronavirus death toll surpassing 142,000 and the number of new cases soaring, Trump’s poll numbers are sinking. So he’s doubling down on the racial-division playbook he has relied on for more than three years, and on his fetish for using weaponry to press that agenda. On Wednesday afternoon Trump announced he will escalate the authoritarian incursions by sending hundreds of federal agents into Chicago, supposedly to help combat violent crime in the city, with other cities to follow. His threats have been explicitly aimed at cities that have Democratic mayors, most of them governing racially-diverse populations, including Albuquerque, Oakland, and New York. “It’s painful to see the department used this way,” says Janet Napolitano, who led DHS during President Barack Obama’s first term. “DHS does not exist to be a federal anti-protest police force. It’s like the president is starting the fire and then saying, ‘I have the only fire extinguisher."

Trump is creating an alternative reality to play on the fears of his overwhelmingly older white base who feel insecure and apprehensive because of the pandemic and George Floyd inspired protests. What he is doing is reprehensible.

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By: Don Lam & Curated Content