Joe Concha: The media and Joy Reid brush off massive crime spikes in Democratic cities
Joe Concha sifts through recent crime and polling data and slams the media for downplaying the alarming statistics
This article is adapted from Joe Concha's video commentary.
Violent crime? It ain’t so bad, at least according to MSNBC’s far-left host Joy Reid.
Have you heard about the alarming rise in shootings and murders engulfing American cities across the country?
It’s a beast of a catastrophe, one the absentee President of the United States seems to have no real interest in solving, and the polling shows this could be a huge problem for Democrats in 2022 and beyond.
Just 38 percent of Americans approve of the way President Biden is tackling the crime crisis in this country – I'd love to meet that 38 percent – according to ABC and The Washington Post.
JOE CONCHA: NO SURPRISE TO SEE MOST AMERICANS DON'T TRUST THE MEDIA
Among those 38 percent is Reid, who recently tweeted in response to left-wing journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, "I've seen more TV stories about crime than the actual anecdotes from friends in NYC or other big cities bear out. I mean summer is when crime always goes up and Shark Week happens perennially, despite the rarity of actual shark attacks. But it's ... odd for sure."
Odd is a great way to describe Reid’s perspective here, because of, you know, actual crime statistics.
Here's how bad things are: In New York, murders are up nearly 50 percent compared to pre-pandemic 2019 at this point of the year. In Atlanta, the murder rate is up 60 percent from last year. In Chicago, the city has recorded more than 1,900 shootings, a 53-percent increase over pre-pandemic 2019, when things were already a war zone in the Windy City. Seattle is seeing its highest homicide rate in 26 years.
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Not exactly a couple of shark attacks.
But Joy Reid heard from friends — perhaps over brunch at a swanky restaurant overlooking New York’s Central Park — that crime ain’t so bad.
In a related story, over the 4th of July weekend, more than 230 people in the United States were shot and killed. There were more than 400 shootings overall. It was more like reliving the Civil War than celebrating Independence Day.
These aren’t typical seasonal spikes Reid is describing. It’s a crisis that Americans can’t just brush off as something that comes with the season, like sunscreen and white pants.
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Of course, since Democrats are the party in power and mayors of major cities also have D's next to their names, this crisis won’t get the coverage and scrutiny it richly deserves.
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