On Tuesday, Presidentย Joe Bidenย traveled to Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to attempt to โflip the scriptโ onย Republicansย with a law-and-order campaign message. The theme of Biden's speech was that โthe answer is not to defund our police departmentsโit's to fund our police.โ
Biden's speech certainly involved a lot of flipping. During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden was asked whether heย supportedย โredirect[ing] some of the funding for police into social services.โ At the time, he responded, โYes, I proposed that kind of reform.โ
In Biden'sย threeย previous speeches on violent crime, his focus has almost exclusively been on gun control. He certainly didn't say anything pro-police in those speeches. Biden mentioned police only four timesโtwice in connection with enforcing gun control. And he dabbled in gun control inaccuracies on Tuesday, too, including his constant referencing of AR-style semiautomatic rifles as โweapons of warโ when even the Associated Press' influential Stylebook makes clear thatย AR-style semiautomatic rifles are not weapons used by any military.
Adding police can be an important step in reducing crime. Theย $13 billionย spent on hiring and training more police may be small compared to theย $80 billionย that Biden is going to spend on hiring 87,000 new IRS agents, but it could make a big difference if it is actually spent on hiring new officers.
But in many Democrat-controlled cities, the problem starts with the district attorneys. In Philadelphia, New York City, and many other places, DAs are simply not prosecuting many violent criminals. Such policies come at a particularly bad time, after large numbers of inmates have been released by liberal judges from jails and prisons over the last two years.
Now, manyย Democratsย are continuing to push โbail reform,โ which would exacerbate the problem by letting violent criminals out onto the street. In states such as California and Nevada, moreover, Democrats have also championed dramatically lower criminal penalties.
But Biden didn't mention any of this in Tuesday's tendentious speech. And if Biden is unwilling to criticize the misguided policies of fellow Democrats, then he can't call himself โtough on crime.โ
Police already face a very frustrating job when they see the people they arrest immediately put back on the street. Policing is only one part of the approach to making it a riskier proposition for someone to commit a crime. And policing is only effective in reducing crime if the rest of the law enforcement apparatus is functioning properly.
Biden refuses to criticize the Democrat-run cities that have advanced the โdefund the policeโ movement, which has dramatically cut the number of cops on the beat.ย Chicago cut the number of its officers by 400 in just 2020, while spending $3.4 million to guard โunnamed city officials.โ New York City recently cut the budget for its police byย $1 billion annually. Los Angeles cut its police budget byย $150 million.ย From San Francisco to Baltimore, major Democrat-controlled cities have been cutting their police budgets.
Biden chose this โtough-on-crimeโ speech on a trip to campaign for soft-on-crime Democrats. Pennsylvania's Democratic nominee for the U.S.ย Senate, John Fetterman, gave a telling answer when asked what he would do if he could wave a magic wand to fix one thing. Fetterman said he would abolish life without parole for murder. And no matter how many crimes you commit, Fetterman wants toย โexpungeโ people's criminal records after just 10 years. That way, no one could ever face a criminal sentence of longer than 10 years.
Bidenย claimedย in Wilkes-Barre that it is Republicans, not Democrats, who want to defund the police. He asserted, โWe set aside 350 billionโwith a โb'โbillion dollars for state and local governments all across America, and urged them to use it, like your governor did, to make communities safer. โฆ[But] every single Republican member of Congressโevery single one in this state, every single oneโvoted against the support for law enforcement.โ Biden has made this claim before, and even liberal fact-checkers atย The Washington Postย andย Factcheck.orgย took him to task. Theย Postย called the claim โslipshodโ and gave Biden three-out-of-four โPinocchios.โ Factcheck.org called it โmisleading.โ
Biden's own Treasury Departmentย summarizedย the $350 billion โAmerican Rescue Planโ spending package this way: โThe [American] Rescue Plan will provide needed relief to state, local, and Tribal governments to enable them to continue to support the public health response. โฆIt will also provide resources for state, local, and Tribal governments to invest in infrastructure, including water, sewer, and broadband services.โ
Nowhere, notably, are police or prosecutions mentioned as priorities.
Biden has himselfย made the job of police more difficult. He restored, and greatly expanded, President Obama's ban on supplying surplus military equipment to police. He issued an executive order to ban chokeholds, and has made it very difficult to use no-knock warrants.
Biden doesn't realize that large numbers of police have been injured in riots or when going after drug gangs, in recent yearsโto say nothing of policing's inherent day-to-day dangers. What is already a dangerous job would be even more dangerous without top-notch gear. And no-knock warrants can save lives, too, when invading a drug gang's house.
It isn't complicated why crime has increased in America in recent years. Failing to convict or incarcerate criminals, while also making policing more difficult, will inevitably lead to more crime. Biden has no idea what it means to be tough on crime.
This article originally appeared in Newsweek. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions ofย American Liberty News. Republished with permission.
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5 Comments
DOES THE FOLLOWING TRANACTION SEEM NORMAL TO YOU FOR A VICE PRESIDENT IN OFFICE MAKING MONEY OFF OF CHINA IN PAY TO PLAY? In August 2017, CEFC Infrastructure Investment LLC sent Hunter Bidenโs law firm, Owasco, $100.000. Four days later, the firm wired $5 million to another entity controlled by Ye, which then started sending regular payment to Owasco. Biden then transferred $1.4 million of that money to a firm called Lion Hall Group, which was controlled by his uncle James Biden and his wife, Sara Biden.
Joey is the most dangerous man in America. He continues to say what is necessary to keep the Dems in power, without regard for the safety of the American people. He has no moral direction whatsoever.
CROOKS like BIDEN should be locked up as soon as they are caught, but BIDEN is being PROTECTED by some of the WORST ORGS in the COUNTRY, starting with the DOJ, FBI, and CIA. It will take the REPUBLICANS years to repair what BIDEN and THE DEMOCRATS have done to the COUNTRY after 2022 and 2024!
Well what can be said ? Biden is just a real disingenuous guy , always has been and always will be . As for attempting to flip the script , I doubt Joe could flip burgers at the local “Micky D’s” without constant supervision .
Rerun same for future??