Bulwark editor Tim Miller said GOP spending priorities reveal the party’s true indifference to big city crime, despite Trump spending millions patrolling blue cities with National Guard troops.
“It is this authoritarian cosplay. It's like they're putting on costumes and they want to seem tough as part of this slow-rolling authoritarian takeover. That's what this is all about,” said Miller, speaking to MSNBC anchor Nicole Wallace. “It is not about crime. It’s important to say, clearly, this is not about solving crime.”
“If you want to solve crime and you believe that more law enforcement is needed in these cities — and surely there's some cities where that's the case — the federal government and Congress could fund a COPS bill and community engagement programs,” said Miller. “They could fund a bunch of stuff. They have a budget coming up here in two weeks. They control the House and the Senate. They control the White House. They want to act as if they have no agency when it comes to the actual policies of these cities.”
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Trump’s last budget bill sought cuts to national food programs and education grants, as well as programs that reduce poverty, a leading cause of property and money-based criminal behavior. Democrats complained his budget also sought to “steal … $1 billion from 40 Department of Justice grant programs” for police departments to reduce violent crime and crime against women.
Democrats also warned the budget removed nearly half a billion dollars from the FBI, as well as cybersecurity and drug enforcement programs, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
“What [Republicans] want to do is say they're going to blame the mayors of these predominantly Black cities, say ‘we're going to send in the troops to deal with your problems because you can't deal with them, and we're not going to actually do anything that helps you. We're just going to try to scare and intimidate people.’” Miller added. “My senator from here in Louisiana, John Kennedy, was talking about how Democratic mayors don't appreciate cops, and that's why we got to do this.”
“But Republicans run Louisiana,” Miller said. “It's Republicans that run Tennessee. If you want more cops in Memphis, fund more cops in Memphis — and New Orleans. If you want to do an authoritarian takeover and you want to do fascist costuming, then send in the troops.”
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“I think that we can see what the real priorities are,” Miller said.