Politics

Trump’s tough talk on crime is taking a major hit. Here’s why.

Published

1 year ago

November 12, 2024

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.

Ya’han Jones

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.”

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Dirk Kempthorne, former Idaho governor and U.S. Interior secretary, dies at 74

Published

3 hours ago

April 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

BOISE, Idaho — Former Idaho Gov. and U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has died at age 74, his family said in a written statement Saturday.

Kempthorne died Friday evening in Boise, the statement said. No cause was given, but he had been diagnosed with colon cancer last year.

“Beyond his public service, he was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather whose greatest joy came from time spent with family and the people he met along the way,” his family said. “He had a rare gift for truly seeing others — remembering names, stories, and the small details that made each person feel known and valued.”

Kempthorne, a Republican, was elected mayor of Boise at age 34 and served seven years before winning the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Sen. Steve Symms. Rather than run for reelection in 1998, he entered an open election for governor, trouncing his Democratic opponent by garnering more than two-thirds of the vote.

President George W. Bush appointed him Interior secretary in 2006, a position he held until the end of Bush’s presidency — and during which he lived on a houseboat docked in the Potomac River. Kempthorne was responsible for the polar bear being listed as a threatened species in 2008, though environmentalists often found him too accommodating of the oil and gas industry.

“As Governor, Dirk left an enduring mark on our state,” Idaho Gov. Brad Little said in a written statement. With the partnership of his wife, Patricia, Kempthorne “championed children and families, strengthened public education, and led transformational investments in our transportation system that will benefit Idahoans for generations.”

In a 2023 question-and-answer session with the George W. Bush Presidential Center, Kempthorne recalled helping evacuate nearly 400 U.S. citizens and Afghan allies from Afghanistan two years earlier, as many were being sought by the Taliban following the U.S. military’s chaotic withdrawal. Kemthorne and others worked frantically for months to raise money and garner the support of diplomatic channels to charter buses and an Airbus A340 to help resettle the evacuees in the U.S. and Canada.

At one point, with the flight fully booked, the organizers received a list of more people who needed to leave urgently.

“That night, at a total loss for answers, alone, I knelt in prayer,” Kempthorne recalled. “I said, ‘Dear God, we cannot leave these people behind, please give a path forward.’ ”

He said he then had a vision of Mother Mary holding the infant Jesus. It gave him an idea: The babies on the flight didn’t need their own seats, as their parents could hold them. The organizers confirmed that with the airline and were able to add an additional 50 people to the flight, Kempthorne said.

Kempthorne is survived by his wife, as well as their children Heather and Jeff and their families.