A story that slipped by over the weekend, but it bears some more fleshing out. On a podcast released days ago, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki implied that despite actual record violent crime rates, the question of a “crime crisis” stems from an “alternate universe” driven largely by Fox News and other conservative media.
Never mind the stats, Psaki, argues, this “soft on crime” narrative is just a way to blame Democrats for something that isn’t really happening.
Here’s Psaki in her own words courtesy of Twitter explaining why the nationwide crime problem is only happening on Fox News and nowhere else:
Jen Psaki mocks people discussing the “consequences” of “soft-on-crime” policies: “What does that even mean?” pic.twitter.com/C1KEnXVIQI
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 31, 2022
What it means, Jen, is that liberal policies of catching criminals and releasing them hours later with no consequences have created untenable situations in cities across the country where law-abiding citizens and businesses are being terrorized.
It means that policies that are soft on criminals, policies backed by you and your Democratic Party, in cities run exclusively by Democrats, have created a cesspool for criminals and record violent crime rates.
Meanwhile, however, back in the alternate reality of the White House, Biden will be heading to New York City on Thursday to meet with the new mayor about… skyrocketing crime.
The stats are what they are, and Psaki can say what she wants. It’s her job to defend Biden’s missteps, but the numbers don’t lie:
At least 16 American cities hit new peaks in their homicide rates last year.
Nationwide, the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2021 reached 73, according to FBI data.
The 2021 figure was the highest since 1995, with the unique exception of 2001, when many police officers died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“It’s not only that many police officers have been killed. It’s also the large number of innocent bystanders who have been killed throughout the country,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor emeritus who specializes in political communication. “That is the thing that makes it so problematic for the president and the Democrats. It’s all over the country.”
Democrats have been soft on crime for decades and generally opposed to law enforcement at every level. In the summer of 2020, when “Defund the Police” virtually became a part of the Democratic Party platform, the situation worsened tenfold. The backpedaling since then has been amusing to watch since the concept of defunding the police in favor of social workers diffusing domestic violence isn’t even catching on liberal enclaves, let alone swing district moderate suburbs.
The Biden administration, thanks to its tone-deaf press secretary, now finds itself once again on the wrong side of the equation when it comes to backing law enforcement:
On Monday, the press secretary drew a rebuke from the head of the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, who called her comments “very wrong.”
“She [Psaki] may feel safe in the White House, one of the most protected buildings in the United States, but not everyone feels safe in their workplace,” Patrick Yoes said in a statement. “The world we find ourselves in is dangerous and is becoming increasingly more so. Tens of thousands of people have been the victims of crime this month alone and some of them never made it back home.
Psaki isn’t affected by the rising crime wave, she doesn’t have to ride the subway or put herself in harm’s way. She’s in a nice secure environment, as Yoes notes in the above paragraph.
I’m starting to believe that maybe Biden’s getting a bad rap for being the biggest clown in the White House clown car. Maybe the people around him really are telling him that he’s “overperforming” and the country loves him. After all, they seem to be more delusional than he is.
