Ever since Trump took office, cracking down on crime has been a focus.
This got national attention when Trump decided to federalize DC, and he has since discussed doing the same to several other cities.
While most Democrats are blasting Trump, there are now a few who are starting to embrace the idea.
The subject came up during the recent New Jersey gubernatorial debate.
New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill claimed, "It makes people less safe, it makes people feel less safe.”
She added, “Unless there is an insurrection or some sort of crisis where the National Guard could come in and the president invokes the Insurrection Act, he's moving these National Guard troops across the country illegally against the Insurrection Act, against posse comitatus."
Now, I am not for troops being used to patrol streets, but if federal agents are being attacked and buildings threatened, I have zero issue with National Guard troops being used as security, with the preference being that it is done in conjunction with the state’s governor. If not, I believe a massive show of federal force should be used.
Chicago is a city that is overrun with violent criminals, and there is no state you can show me that would change my mind.
In my opinion, the only reason the murder rate is down a few notches is that the criminals are shooting worse than ever. When you have three dozen shootings over the weekend and only half a dozen deaths, that is just dumb luck, not lowering crime.
Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez is starting to see the light, and he would love to have some federal help, stating, “If the mayor and the governor continue to say crime is down, crime is decreasing, everything’s great, then why don’t we take Donald Trump up on his offer and go even further.”
He added, “We need the actual presence of the National Guard to focus on the assets of the city so that our police can go into the communities and go after those individual gang members, drug dealers and human traffickers.” And I agree 100%!
One of the more interesting comments I read on this point was from Marc Benioff, a megadonor for the Democrat Party.
When he was asked about Trump’s approach to fighting crime, he responded, "We don’t have enough cops, so if [the National Guard] can be cops, I’m all for it. I fully support the president. I think he’s doing a great job."
Now, I want to be clear here… The National Guard will not be used as police, but rather as protection and a deterrent, and I think that message has gotten lost, including by White House officials who are calling out Democrats for resisting the help.
I think the message needs to be cleaned up, but again, if Dems don’t want to use the National Guard, the DOJ can use more federal officials to help protect ICE agents if need be. And as I said in other reports, if you want to play this game, put them in camo so they have a bigger visual presence. I just don’t see why we are even debating this.
