One of Fox News star Tucker Carlson’s most cherished narratives is that Democrats are deliberately allowing widespread crime and chaos. “Joe Biden's DOJ has done nothing to stop the crime wave and so it is accelerating everywhere,” he claimed last month, in a monologue that urged Republicans to center their campaign messages on “law and order.” The GOP promptly took his advice, devoting an increasing share of their paid advertising to the issue.
Carlson’s campaign strategy requires its supporters to look past both actual crime data and Democratic efforts to reduce crime and fund law enforcement. And so his Thursday program completely ignored the House’s passage that day of police and public safety legislation.
The Fox host instead prioritized segments on, among other things, violent crime in Sweden; a conservative group’s parody ad; and an interview with Glenn Beck promoting his latest book.
The House passed four bills, each of which was sponsored by Democrats and had the support of some Republicans. The Washington Post described the bills as follows:
The Mental Health Justice Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), seeks to create a grant program for states and local governments to train and dispatch mental health professionals — instead of law enforcement officers — to respond to emergencies that involve people with behavioral health needs…
The Invest to Protect Act of 2022, sponsored by moderate Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), would award a grant to a local or tribal government that employs fewer than 125 law enforcement officers for equipment and programs including body cameras, de-escalation training, and recruitment and retention improvement…
The Victim Act of 2022 would help law enforcement agencies establish violent incident clearance and technological investigative methods. The measure was sponsored by Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), who is trying to unseat Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)...
The Break the Cycle of Violence Act, sponsored by Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), would fund nonprofit, community and faith-based organizations that work to reduce crime.
One would think that someone as worried about U.S. crime as Carlson pretends to be would be interested in legislation aimed at curtailing it, but apparently not.
Carlson was not alone in ignoring the package. Fox stars Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham also had nothing to say about it on their evening programs.
Apparently, their concern for “America’s Crime Crisis” extends only as far as their ability to convert the issue into Republican votes.
