Trumps false claims about U.S. murder rate raise questions

[babylonsister]

Or maybe it has something to do with the NRA? Posted with permission.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-false-claims-about-us-murder-rate-raise-questions?cid=sm_fb_maddow

Trump’s false claims about U.S. murder rate raise questions
12/16/16 09:29 AM
By Steve Benen

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump’s standard stump speech included a very specific claim about crime in the United States.

Oct. 28, 2016: “You won’t hear this from the media: We have the highest murder rate in this country in 45 years. You don’t hear that from these people. They don’t want to talk about it. The highest murder rate in the United States in 45 years.”

Oct. 29, 2016: “The murder rate in the United States, it’s the worst, the highest it’s been in 45 years. Nobody talks about that — nobody talks about that.”

Oct. 30, 2016: “Murder is – in 45 years, right now, the rates are the highest they’ve been … and they don’t want to talk about it.”

The reason “they” – he never said who “they” are – didn’t want to talk about the murder rate reaching a 45-year high is that the claim is ridiculously untrue. In fact, as the Washington Post explained before the election, Trump actually has the entire story backwards: “Both the rate of homicides and violent crimes are back down to the levels they were 45 years ago.”

In other words, in reality, the murder rate is roughly at a 50-year low, even though Trump claimed every day for months that it’s at a 45-year high.

I assumed, before the election, that Trump lied to Americans about this because he wanted them to be scared of the status quo: under President Obama, the argument went, scary people have gotten scarier. You’re no longer safe, your family is in grave danger, violence dominates what’s left of our dystopian society, so vote for Donald Trump to restore “law and order.” It’s a classic scam of demagoguery: if a dangerous politician can convince you to be terrified, and he presents himself as the only person alive who can keep you safe, you might be tricked into voting for him.

The trouble is, Trump is still repeating the lie. The president told a rally audience last night, “The murder rate in the United States is the largest it’s been in 45 years,” keeping the false claim alive. He’s told this lie at several of his recent campaign-style rallies in celebration of himself.

And that got me thinking: why is Trump so fond of this specific falsehood? As a pre-election tactic, the deceptive rhetoric at least made strategic sense, but now that he’s already won the election, why bother?

I can think of a few possible explanations:

1. Maybe Trump intends to impose some exceedingly harsh criminal-justice “reforms,” so he needs the public to remain scared of murder rates that don’t exist in order to help justify his regressive and reactionary policy agenda.

2. Perhaps Trump is quietly trying to undermine public confidence in data and statistics. Sure, law-enforcement agencies keep providing us with facts about crime rates, but Trump probably prefers a political environment in which the public trusts his word alone, not the reality-based community.

3. Maybe Trump intends to switch after he takes office and start using the real data once he’s president. “Remember how I said the murder rate is at a 45-year low?” Trump may ask. “Well, now look how low it is! I must be doing a great job!”

4. Perhaps Trump actually believes his own nonsense, and lacks the ability to understand why he’s mistaken.

Which of these explains his bizarre mendacity? Your guess is as good as mine.

[etherealtruth]

1. He is deranged ... deranged folk say and do deranged things

Not an attribute that is usually valued in a leader

[alarimer]

2. It is not a false claim; it is a LIE

What can't the media call him on his obvious lies?

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Number 4 is the winner.

[babylonsister]

4. Yes, most likely, and once he has

a talking point down, there's no stopping him.

[0rganism]

5. author almost got right to the point: "what does it justify?"

> 1. Maybe Trump intends to impose some exceedingly harsh criminal-justice “reforms,” so he needs the public to remain scared of murder rates that don’t exist in order to help justify his regressive and reactionary policy agenda.

there we go, remember he's gonna be the Law & Order president
Nixon never had it so good

[sarisataka]

6. Gun control has been using

The line that we are in the midst of a murder epidemic for a while now. Perhaps Trump is getting ready to flip on another subject and become pro gun control.

It would fit as historically Republicans have instituted more gun control than Democrats despite the current situation

[Nevernose]

7. Trump has NO MOTIVES

His sole motive is to "win." He will say or do whatever that takes (in the case of the election, it was making people feel negative emotions). He neither knows nor cares what is factual, because that is is irrelevant to him and it's irrelevant to his goals.

He's a crazy person. Most mentally ill people are harmless, but this particular mentally ill person happened to be born a billionaire, and therefore ended up more screwed up than most mentally ill (full disclosure: I'm mentally ill, too, so I've got sympathy for people talking shit and spreading stereotypes).

The problem this author and many other people seem to have is -- apparently -- a total lack of experience with anyone with these types of personality disorders. Motives, even terrible ones, are for sane people. By definition we'll never be able to understand Trump's reasoning; he doesn't have any, and what there is isn't based on reality.

The best we can do is plan for the worst.

[Hekate]

10. TY, Nevernose. Mad King Donald needs to be banished back to his Golden Tower....

I've started wondering about dementia, in addition to everything else. He has a lifelong temperament of bullying, bellowing, braggadocio, and lying -- so he can carry on that way for awhile.

But that bit about denying he had been told about the cyberattack before the election was a wowser. The whole world was told. And then continuing to deny it even in the face of evidence to the contrary was a more than usual wtf moment. He can't seem to function without his 3 spawn plus Jared in the same room. Really? To what degree is he just not tracking?

[RiverStone]

8. As a society, how to adjust to a prez who is a serial liar?

Richard Nixon was too, but tRump has shown an extreme propensity for this pathological behavior.

We don't know yet what this means for the United States.

[forgotmylogin]

9. The stupid thing is the way he frames his sentences, you can't really call it false.

It parses exactly as well as:

“You won’t hear this from the media: We have zombie giraffes roaming the street attacking people. You don’t hear that from these people. They don’t want to talk about it. Zombie. Giraffes.”

"You won't hear this blatant lie I pulled from my asscrack from the media. You don't hear that. They don't want to talk about the stuff I pull from my asscrack."

Patently true, Donald.

[erpowers]

11. 1 and 3 With A Few Twists

I think Donald Trump wants to push through racists policing policies that target minorities, especially blacks and maybe Hispanics. That is the reason he ran on a law and order platform and why he kept saying things were the worst they had ever been for black people. He needed to make as many people as possible believe crime was out of control in America. If people realize crime has fallen to possibly an all time low many would resist racist policies. However, if people believe crime is out of control and it could move from out of the ghetto and into their peaceful neighborhood they can be convinced to support those racist policies. After Trump has pushed through his policies he will then began to say that after he implemented his policies crime that had been out of control has now amazingly fallen to an all time low.