Politics
Trump’s tough talk on crime is taking a major hit. Here’s why.
Former President Donald Trump and much of the GOP have staked their 2024 electoral hopes on convincing voters that Democrats are willfully allowing violent criminals to roam the streets.
In doing that, they’ve frequently deployed the racist “Willie Horton strategy” — in essence, cherry-picking stories of gruesome crimes, particularly crimes committed by immigrants — to suggest Dems don’t care about keeping Americans safe.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump stoked violence against fellow Americans, and he’s promised to free the people involved if elected.
Getting voters to believe this, coming from Trump of all people, was always going to require that they ignore the irony. On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump stoked violence against fellow Americansand he’s promised to free the people involved if elected. He’s not a credible voice when it comes to crime.
On Tuesday’s episode of The ReidOut, Joy spoke with Judd Legum, the reporter who broke a story on Jaime Davidsona convicted cop-killer and drug dealer whose sentence Trump commuted on the last day of his term. Davidson, who was convicted of murder for coordinating the fatal, armed robbery of a New York undercover officer in 1990, was released by Trump, but convicted of domestic abuse earlier this year and handed a three-month sentence in July. (He’s appealing the conviction.)
Legum’s report explains the peculiar circumstances surrounding Davidson’s release:
Trump’s commutation of Davidson’s life sentence was controversial at the time because of the severity of Davidson’s offense and the atypical process that led to his release. Requests for pardons and commutations usually are handled through the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Davidson had sought the commutation of his life sentence through official channels in 2013 and 2017 and was denied both times. In the waning days of Trump’s presidency, Davidson eschewed the Office of the Pardon Attorney and sought relief directly from Trump. Davidson’s attorney Betty Schein, had deep connections to the Trump White House. Schein and her husband, Alan Futerfas, represented people associated with the Trump Organization, including Donald Trump Jr.
Davidson’s release also got support from Alice Johnson, a formerly incarcerated woman whose sentence Trump commuted after Kim Kardashian drew the Trump White House’s attention to her case.
Another person granted clemency under Trump now stands accused of a violent crime.
Jonathan Braun, a convicted drug kingpin and violent loan shark, was also released via last-minute commutation by Trump in 2021. Braun was arrested last month and is facing charges in New York over claims he assaulted his wife and father-in-law on various occasions in July and August. He pleaded not guilty and his attorney told CNBC he’d address the claims in court.
As The New York Times reported, the circumstances around Trump’s commutation of Braun were “troubling.” The move came after Braun’s family made inroads with the Trump family through their connections to Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared. And the commutation reportedly disrupted a major federal probe into predatory lending that Braun was expected to assist. According to the Times’ reporting, the younger Kushner played a “major role in the less structured vetting process” that led to Braun’s commutation.
The commutation announcement for Braun ironically mentions his plans to support the wife he’s now accused of assaulting.
Trump’s administration circumvented the normal processes to release people that are known to be violent, only for them to commit violent crimes — allegedly, in Braun’s case — yet again. This provides a window into how Trump could abuse the commutation process in the future. But unlike when such claims are lobbed at liberals, I don’t expect these stories to get wall-to-wall coverage in conservative media.
In fact, Trump’s campaign gave a rather milquetoast statement in response to Legum’s reporting, “President Trump believes anyone convicted of a crime should spend time behind bars.”
For a variety of reasons, it’s an wholly unbelievable claim.
Ja’han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. He’s a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include “Black Hair Defined” and the “Black Obituary Project.”
Virginia’s state Supreme Court will decide whether state Democrats’ gerrymander push can proceed after an appeals court on Wednesday pushed the case to the high court.
The state Circuit Court of Appeals, in a motion, stated that the case is of “such imperative public importance as to justify the deviation from normal appellate practice and to require prompt decision in the Supreme Court.”
The move comes after a court in Tazewell County last week blocked Virginia Democrats from going forward with gerrymandering, ruling that the Democrat-led Legislature had wrongly approved a constitutional amendment that would allow for mid-decade redrawing of congressional districts ahead of the midterms this fall.
The move is a potential bright spot for Democrats, who had been stymied by the lower court ruling blocking the party’s attempt to gain upwards of four seats in the midterms through redistricting. Currently, Democrats hold six seats in the state while Republicans control five.
The Republican-backed group Virginians for Fair Maps, one of the main organizations against redistricting in the state, declined to comment.
Virginians for Fair Elections, the Democrat-affiliated group launched last month to urge voters to approve the measure, declined to comment on the record.
Last October, Democratic lawmakers began the process of redrawing maps in the state, an effort that only gained traction after voters elected Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger in the November election and the GOP lost 13 seats in the House of Delegates.
Virginia Democrats had been so confident prior to the Tazewell County court ruling that party leaders vowed to unveil new maps it wanted Virginia voters to approve by the end of last month, with promises of unveiling a map that goes as far as 10-1 in favor of their party.
Virginia is seen as the top prize in Democrats’ redistricting push, especially if Republican-led Florida redraws its maps under Gov. Ron DeSantis. More GOP-led states could also move to draw more red-leaning states if the Supreme Court rules to strike down portions of the Voting Rights Act.
President Donald Trump is expected to swiftly sign the legislation…
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A spending package that would fund the vast majority of the federal government cleared a key procedural hurdle Tuesday, setting up votes later in the day to send the measure to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature. Final passage of the measure, which also includes a funding patch for the Department of Homeland Security through Feb…
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