Dog whistles drown out real crime facts

I can’t stand how every single crime story turns into this tired “blue cities vs red states” fight. Like clockwork, whenever Trump starts ranting about “cleaning up crime,” he goes after the usual suspects - places like Chicago or Detroit, cities with Black mayors and big Black populations - and totally ignores spots like Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis is in one of the reddest states in America, and according to the latest FBI stats, it actually has the highest violent crime rate in the country. And it’s not just Memphis - look at St. Louis, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Little Rock, Alexandria, Monroe, Anniston… these are all cities in deep red states, and most of them have sky-high crime rates, sometimes even worse than the so-called “Dem-run disaster zones” Fox News can’t stop talking about. Meanwhile, you’ve got Miami - basically MAGA central and famous for being the fraud capital of the US - but somehow that never gets mentioned when Republicans start fearmongering about cities. The truth is, almost every big city in America votes blue, not because of some conspiracy, but because city life means working and living alongside all kinds of people. It’s a lot harder to be a bigot when you actually know your neighbors. The people out in rural Arkansas or Alabama love to talk about how bad the cities are, but usually, they moved away because they can’t stand crowds or diversity in the first place. Then they turn around and act like they know what’s best for everyone else, even though the rural areas and red states have the highest murder rates in the country. It’s just wild to me that the three states with the highest murder rates are all bright red, but the “tough on crime” crowd only ever wants to trash blue cities with Black leadership. If Trump actually cared about public safety, maybe he’d start with his own party or his own backyard. When I was stationed in Little Rock with the military, we were literally told never to go out in groups smaller than four because it was that sketchy - it was the only base I was ever at where that was the rule. But sure, keep blaming Chicago for everything. It’s just the same old political dog whistles and double standards, and I’m so over it.