Former President Donald Trump, speaking via telephone to “Fox & Friends” Thursday criticized the establishment media for “failing to report on the nationwide crime surge amid rampant anti-police rhetoric across the country,” Fox News reported.
“Fox & Friends” is the network’s early morning news and views three-hour program.
The 45th president asserted, “You look at what’s going on in Chicago and look at what’s happening in San Francisco, and it’s happening in many other cities that they don’t want to report about…The media isn’t reporting this problem.”
Trump alleged “Police are not allowed to do their job.”
The media have covered one high-profile case recently, the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 28-year-old who was acquitted last month in a Kenosha, Wisconsin courtroom on two charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder. The teen contended the shootings were in self-defense as he was being pursued and attacked by rioters in Kenosha in late August 2020.
By comparison, there hasn’t been as much interest in the case—also in Wisconsin—regarding the mowing down of several people at the annual Christmas parade in Waukesha. The suspect in that mayhem, Darrell Brooks, is now whining to Fox News Digital about being “demonized” and “dehumanized” because he’s been held in jail. Described by the New York Post as “a career criminal and registered child sex offender,” Brooks allegedly caused the deaths of six people, including an 8-year-old, and left many others injured.
Trump’s argument that rampant crime is being ignored may not be entirely accurate, but lawlessness seems to be on the rise at a time when police ranks have been thinned, departments have lost funding and more cops are being attacked. According to the Fraternal Order of Police, this year has seen 314 officers shot, including 58 who were killed. It’s the highest number ever recorded, according to Fox News.
Ambush attacks are also up 126 percent over last year, a problem illustrated by a report by the Seattle Times in a report about the attempt to shoot a King County sheriff’s deputy by three teens using what has been reported as an AK-47. The newspaper said 16-year-old Jai King was arrested after fleeing from a disabled, stolen car following the shooting. He was found hiding in a tree, the newspaper said.
The Times also reported King was also “accused of firing a ghost gun at a playground in Renton in October.” Police found the gun in his waistband.
Rising crime may be one reason so many Evergreen State residents have been arming up. More than 641,000 Washingtonians are now licensed to carry concealed handguns. Southern King County, the state’s most populous and most liberal with Democrats controlling the Seattle and King County councils, has become a shooting gallery lately.
Fox News reported Trump also talked about the “state of policing in America under the Biden administration.”
Joe Biden’s popularity has plummeted since taking office less than 11 months ago. The daily Rasmussen Presidential Tracking Poll has Biden at 43 percent job performance approval and 56 percent disapproval. However, the more telling numbers reveal only 23 percent “strongly” approve of the president’s job performance while 48 percent “strongly” disapprove.
