Republicans are ready to use the nationwide rise in violent crime against Democrats in the midterm elections.
That’s odd.
Yes, the murder rate is up.
Most of those murders involved guns and took place in southern states with lax gun control laws enacted by Republican governors and legislatures.
So, how can Democrats be attacked as the party responsible for the rise in crime?
The twisted politics of crime in 2022 are less about tragic murders than former President Trump’s continued success in exploiting America’s racial politics.
His constant talk about the rise in violent crime is a way to connect crime and racial minorities — without taking responsibility for playing racial politics. And it is a strategic way for congressional Republicans to go after Democrats as the party in charge of big cities.
After George Floyd’s murder under the knee of a policeman in May 2020, the GOP saw public opinion shift in favor of police reform and the Black Lives Matter movement.
That was not helpful to Trump in 2020. It will not be helpful to Trump-endorsed Republicans going into the 2022 midterms.
Fear of crime has been historically to the advantage of Republicans. But crime rates have fallen dramatically since the 1990s.
In the 2016 and 2020 presidential races, candidate Trump elevated fear of crime — especially crime perpetrated by immigrants and minorities — to alarm suburban white voters in key swing states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
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