As expected, the Democrats criticized President Trump's decision to put the National Guard on the streets of Washington D.C. It's the kind of automatic response that we've grown to expect: Trump said yes, they say no. However, is it really smart to overlook the reality of the nation's capital?
The Dallas Morning News landed this morning on my front yard and I found their lead editorial rather good. In other words, it made sense. Here it is:
It’s a good thing and worth acknowledging that violent crime in Washington hit a 30-year low in 2024. But repeating that line over and over again belies the fact that the nation’s capital has long exceeded the amount of crime we should be willing to accept as a society.
Last year, for every 1,000 people in Washington, there were about 1.5 assaults with a dangerous weapon, 3 robberies and 7.3 car thefts, police data shows. Each of those figures represents a decrease over 2023. Assault with a dangerous weapon, for instance, dropped by just over a quarter.
The city has a high homicide rate. Last year, there were 26.6 killings per 100,000 people, though that is a stark drop from the 2023 rate of nearly 40. Many other large cities in the United States have lower per-capita homicide rates.
As a baseball fan, I know that numbers don’t always tell you the whole story. They don’t here either.
Turning on the Trump hate machine is not solving anything, especially the plight of a city overrun by crime. As the editorial points out, the crime is real and the people impacted are African Americans, who just gave VP Kamala Harris most of their votes.
It would be better if local leaders were more assertive in dealing with criminals. Unfortunately, it does not happen that way. I don't know why, but these levels of crime are tolerated. Maybe it's because they don't live in the crime-ridden neighborhoods, ride cars without security, or send their kids to public schools. It's easy to deny the crime statistics when you don't live with it.
The Guard will go home in 30 days or stay longer if the President can get the approval. We will see how that works out. What can't be denied is that President Trump is right about crime and the fact that African Americans in the U.S. are not protected by the Democrats that they vote for.
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Image: Pixabay