UPDATE May 5, 2024:
How do we know if Biden is telling the truth about violent crime?
President Biden has great news for worried Americans who don’t feel safe:
Americans are safer from violent crime today than a year ago. Today, an independent organization of police chiefs from the nation’s largest cities released data showing that, compared to a year earlier, violent crime declined across every category in the first quarter of 2024 and murders are down 17%. These decreases build on substantial decreases in previous years.545
What the president doesn’t tell you is how much better the numbers were before he became president.
The truth: Americans were safer before Biden took over
Biden cites a Major Cities Chiefs Association report released May 3, 2024 showing an estimated decrease from 1,782 homicides in 1Q 2023 to 1,474 in 1Q 2024. That’s 308 fewer homicides reported by 68 agencies.546
As a comparison, during the Trump presidency the MCCA reported 1,264 homicides for the 1Q 2019547 and 1,337 for 1Q 2020. The number jumped to 1,721 homicides during Biden’s first three months in the White House548 and then skyrocketed to an estimated 2,068 homicides during 1Q 2022549 and 1,782 during 1Q 2023.550
What does all this mean? How much is violent crime up or down thanks to Joe Biden? The answer is an issue for the fact checkers and bean counters. Politics and especially election year politicking makes the truth infinitely malleable and let’s be honest, Biden’s habit of not telling the truth makes him a less than credible source.
15 million jobs that refuse to die
The same day the White House touted success against violent crime, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brought Star Wars lead Mark Hamill to her afternoon press briefing. The actor praised Biden’s record:
And, you know, I don’t have to go through the list — the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the PACT Act, the CHIPS Act, all of that — Inflation. Fifteen million jobs. Look, it’s all good.551
Hamill was a clever diversion from questions about the violent antisemitism raging across America. The press secretary talked about that, too:
Violence is not protected here.552
It may not be protected, but that’s not the issue. She didn’t say whether it is prosecuted. Without consequences, violent protests like the 2020 BLM riots flourish.
White House credit-taking for creating 15 million jobs has been widely discredited because it ignores the impact of the post-COVID economic rebound. The president’s insistence that Americans’ unhappiness with his punishing anti-fossil fuel policies and Bidenomics inflation is a misperception on our part about how good our lives are thanks to him is another example of why we can’t believe anything coming from this optics-obsessed White House.
Rest easy: the border is secure
As illegal border crossings exploded, Americans were handed this:
We agree that the border is secure, but there is still more work to be done.553
More work like making a secure border the truth instead of a lie insults our intelligence. The comment was from a September 15, 2022 press conference. We’re still waiting for it to be true.
Biden governs America with lies
The honest truth is that there is no truth to be had from the Biden White House. The president lies to the American people so reliably and with such consistency that if we assume what he says is not the truth, odds are we will be correct:
I’ve already cut the federal deficit by over one trillion dollars.554
This is not true. Biden did not “cut” the deficit by $1 trillion. As State of the Union fact checkers on RollCall point out, not only was the end of pandemic outlays largely responsible, spending on Biden’s watch made the deficit even larger than it would have been otherwise.555
While it may be true that if you tell enough lies some will be believed, it’s also true that no one trusts a liar. Violent crime may have gone down 17%, but the real issue is why and more important, whether Americans believe that crime is down. That’s a Biden credibility problem. Our president doesn’t have any.
From cannibals eating Biden’s uncle to the truth about his son who didn’t die in Iraq to not having any knowledge of Hunter’s business activities to that secure border we keep hearing about while America is invaded, Joe Biden is incapable of honesty. He doesn’t understand truth and shows no indication that he cares about his lack of credibility.
Back to that drop in crime I began with. The Illinois Policy Institute just reported that violent crime in Chicago rose 11.5% in 2023 while violent criminal arrests were down to 11%.556 That’s not good news for anyone walking the streets of the Windy City and a sign that the president may not be entirely forthcoming about the safety of blue city voters he depends on for political support.
Biden swore allegiance to the truth at the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Dinner:
The truth matters.
As I said last year at this dinner, a poison is running through our democracy and parts of the extreme press. The truth buried by lies, and lies living on as truth.557
This time he told the truth. The problem is that the poison of his lies is making our democracy sick because we can’t believe a single word he says even when we desperately wish he was being honest.
545“Statement from President Joe Biden on Record Decrease in Violent Crime in 2024.” The White House. May 3, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/03/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-record-decrease-in-violent-crime-in-2024/, retrieved May 4, 2024.
546“Violent Crime Survey – National Totals. First Quarter Comparison. January 1 to March 31, 2024, and 2023. Major Cities Chief Association. May 3, 2024. https://majorcitieschiefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MCCA-Violent-Crime-Report-2024-and-2023-1st-Quarter.pdf, retrieved May 5, 2024.
547“Violent Crime Survey – National Totals. First Quarter Comparison. January 1 to March 31, 2020, and 2019. Major Cities Chief Association. May 11, 2020. https://majorcitieschiefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/mcca_violent_crime_report_2020_and_2019_first_quarter.pdf, retrieved May 5, 2024.
548“Violent Crime Survey – National Totals. First Quarter Comparison. January 1 to March 31, 2021, and 2020. Major Cities Chief Association. May 14, 2021. https://majorcitieschiefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/MCCA-Violent-Crime-Report-2021-and-2020-First-Quarter.pdf, retrieved May 5, 2024.
549“Violent Crime Survey – National Totals. First Quarter Comparison. January 1 to March 31, 2023, and 2022. Major Cities Chief Association. May 15, 2023. https://majorcitieschiefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MCCA-Violent-Crime-Report-2023-and-2022-First-Quarter.pdf, retrieved May 5, 2024.
550“Violent Crime Survey – National Totals. First Quarter Comparison. January 1 to March 31, 2024, and 2023. Major Cities Chief Association. Op. cit.
551“Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.” The White House. May 3, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2024/05/03/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-60/, retrieved May 4, 2024.
552Ibid.
553Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, September 15, 2022.” The White House. September 15, 2022. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2022/09/15/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-september-15-2022/, retrieved May 4, 2024.
554“Remarks of President Joe Biden — State of the Union Address As Prepared for Delivery.” The White House. March 7, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/03/07/remarks-of-president-joe-biden-state-of-the-union-address-as-prepared-for-delivery-2/, retrieved May 4, 2024.
555Robert Farley, D’Angelo Gore, Saranac Hale Spencer, Catalina Jaramillo, Kate Yandell, Jessica McDonald, Alan Jaffe, Eugene Kiely and Lori Robertson. “Fact Checking Biden’s State of the Union.” Roll Call. March 8, 2024. https://rollcall.com/2024/03/08/fact-checking-bidens-state-of-the-union/, retrieved May 4, 2024.
556Josco, Jon. “Report: Chicago Violent Crime Spikes 11%, Arrests in Just 11%.” Illinois Policy. March 12, 2024. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/report-chicago-violent-crime-spikes-11-arrests-in-just-11/, retrieved May 4, 2024.
557“Remarks by President Biden at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.” The White House. April 30, 2023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/04/30/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner/, retrieved May 4, 2024.
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You’ve got it exactly backwards. Republicans are the lying bullies. Period. The end. Idiot.
Difficult to do without a congressional majority, but with any luck after midterms next year there will be plenty of Republican bullying to make up for the lunacy we’ve suffered from the left.
Thanks for reading, even if I am an idiot.
your one of the un-educated people, could be receiving monies from the SATAN children in washington dc, in other words THE STEALING & LAUNDERING LAIRS CALLED democrats! The above voting for lairs – when TRUTH Meets them in Face- they only know to say bad things bout the REPUBLICANS, more than likely you don’t have a profession other than waiting for the free deposit.
IN REALITY GET YOURSELF SAVED THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, NOT ala he’s SATAN in TRUTH!
Nope! Nice try though. The “h” in democrat stands for honesty. Democrats are allergic to facts and think with their asses! No brains at all! Go f*** yourself democrats!
False. You’re confused because you think the news is real. The news is not real. In reality, 85% of republican reps are democrats. They’re all lying Satanists who want to destroy America. Hence the wars, destruction of the dollar, the illegal alien invasion, refusing to use our own oil and natural gas. Etc. if you want to live in reality swap out fox and cnn for info wars. Propaganda will trick you and make you sound stupid so avoid the “news”
THE LOYAL DROOLING ASS-KISSERS WILL BELIEVE ANY LIE UTTERED BY A REPUBLICAN.
Such as?
A Republican does anything wrong its all over ythe news even if it is all lies like with Trump this election era. A democratic lies daily and its published as gosphel!! There is no news without truth and the democratic party would self destruct if they had to tell one iota of truth as they are 100% liars, cowards, cheats and thieves!!!
Spot on, antiobama. There is no better proof than their new Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats are so arrogant that they don’t even try to hide the fact that they lied to Americans about the purpose of this bill or what it will accomplish. As you rightly point out, when they lie it’s gospel and anyone who reveals the truth will be denounced and cancelled by Big Tech and their complicit media.
There is no news without truth and the democratic party would self destruct if they had to tell one iota of truth as they are 100% liars, cowards, cheats and thieves!!!
When Dems say the violence is part of their agenda. They are telling the truth. They plan on using as much violence to make legal Americans afraid to stand up to them
Exactly right, Mea. All it takes is a liberal dog whistle to get the violent, peaceful protests started. As long as Democrats control Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the FBI, left-wing domestic terrorists have nothing to worry about.
Democrats are the biggest damn liars that ever lived or at least one of the biggest liars but anyway they are big time liars who don’t the meaning of the word truth and honesty, they think we’re fools who believe their lies but not all of us are foolishly enough to believe their lies and they like to feed us a heaping load of their bullshit lies and put blame on anyone and anything that they can put blame on cause that trash isn’t going to take blame for nothing cause it’s easier to put blame on someone else or something else but their favorite person to put blame on is Trump and he’s always been their favorite person to pick on, it isn’t bad enough that they used Covid-19 to do that stupid mail in ballot thing all so they can steal the election away from Trump but then they keep right on with their bullshit cause I think they feel threatened by Trump and I think they always have felt threatened by him especially now, I think they’re scared that Trump might run again in the 2024 election and win and get back in office and they sure don’t want that and I hope Trump does run again and wins because this country needs him back as President and I don’t give a damn what the birdbrains out there think cause they’re no damn better than the trash out there, doing the damage to America cause they support them and vote for them and when they do that, that makes them no better than they are cause they support the garbage doing the damage and to me that’s like a slap in the face cause to me when you support them, it’s like you support anything and everything they do, good or bad so I say” WAKE UP, AMERICA!
Wow! Faye, I think you covered it. I haven’t decided whether they lie because they think we’re too dumb to see through what they say, or because they don’t care what we think. Probably both. As far as Trump is concerned, I wholeheartedly agree. Democrats and sadly, many Republicans are terrified of a leader who won’t play their game of stringing us along, hurting Americans in the process, and doing absolutely nothing to make our country better. Trump got things done and Washington still hates him for showing how worthless and self-interested our elected officials are. The best way for him to end their hate is to be reelected. Afterwards he can’t run again and this will go away.
Exactly.
You’re absolutely right Faye. I live in Washington State where we do mail in voting all the time I am absolutely positive that Washington State enacted disability without the vote of the people so that the Democratic party that enacted it could continually steal the elections year after year after year trying to find something Democrats need to be removed their party should be disbanded based on their willingness to sell our country to foreign interest Joe Biden has proven that but yet the mainline media doesn’t seem to be too interested in checking into it that’s because they know it’s the truth. I don’t
What good does it do to point out democrat lies. The GOP won’t do anything about it.
I don’t disagree, Michael. They will hold hearings. They will issue a report. Nothing will come of it because they don’t have the political might and too many in the party don’t want to rock the boat that keeps lawmakers fat and happy.
You’re not wrong only it will take more than just a majority. Unfortunately most Republicans are so afraid that they won’t stand up to the lying oppressive Democratic regime. This is half of the problem. The other half of the problem is that none of the political individuals Republican and Democrat alike are willing to give up their ability to conduct insider trading based on knowledge that they receive from different committees. Thank you for listening I wish that my thoughts were not the truth.
I wish you were wrong too, Paul, but your comments are spot on. The willingness of the GOP to bend to the will of the Democrat Party is infuriating, including their support of the last omnibus spending package. Democrats know better.
As far as insider trading is concerned, let’s relegate that to the same list as term limits and an earmark ban. The difference between Republicans and Democrats is a lot less than the difference between politicians from either party and the American people. Both know where their money comes from.
Thanks for reading and offering your thoughts.
Bob