We are all familiar with that old saw about how the party in the White House always loses in the midterm elections. But if there was ever a prime time for that to be flipped on its head, this year would be that time, and President Donald Trump would be the man to do it. For Democrats to achieve that, they are going to have to position themselves very differently on some key issues Americans care about. One of those things is crime. Can they do that? Do they even want to do that? One left-leaning group says they’d better start thinking about it.
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a left-leaning think tank. On Thursday, they released a plan that may behoove Democrats to give some consideration to. A slide presentation puts things pretty bluntly, saying, “Voters barely believe Democrats even care about fighting crime or respect police.” And the glaringly obvious question would be, why would they? Violence against ICE agents, Border Patrol, and other law enforcement officials has dominated the news cycle for weeks, with Democrat politicians giving a wink and a nod to the violence.
CAP’s plan calls for hiring more detectives and police officers, thereby holding lawbreakers accountable and “delivering swift and certain consequences.” Also, a focus on crime “hotspots,” crime prevention strategies, and stopping violent criminal organizations, such as illegal trafficking of drugs, guns, and people. Neera Tanden, who served as Joe Biden’s domestic policy council director, said of the plan, “It’s important for Democrats to demonstrate that they understand that crime is an issue and that they have solutions around it.” She added that Democrats should be “on their front foot” talking about crime.
The topic also came up last summer at the Democratic National Committee meeting, where it was urged that the party should communicate better that they were “serious about safety.” But instead of more cops on the street or more funding, Democrats reverted to the old “root causes” approach, and advocated things like “better, more accountable policing.”