High-profile Democrats appear ready to concede what the rest of Americans already knew. The failed leadership in Chicago plummeted the city into lawlessness and unprecedented gun violence.
In a perfect world, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot would have acted responsibly and asked for federal support from former President Donald Trump. But political insiders now report she and fellow Democrats hoped to run out the clock on crime.
After more than a decade of anti-police policies and sentiments hamstrung boots-on-the-ground officers, Mayor Lightfoot had the audacity to propose cutting the Chicago PD budget by upwards of $80 million to curry favor with Black Lives Matter radicals. But as the body count grows, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has been under heavy pressure to declare a state of emergency in the crime-ridden city.
“We need emergency funds. We need emergency action,” activist Father Michael Pfleger reportedly said. “And the action is this comprehensive approach because what we’re doing is obviously not working.”
Many believe the Democrat governor has little choice but to fly the white flag in defeat as daylight shootings make Chicago look like the Wild West. Reports indicate that at least 100 people were shot in the city through the July Fourth weekend. The damaging liberal attacks on police officers that began during the Obama years have had a chilling effect on arrests. Frontline officers reportedly fear administrative punishment and suspension because City Hall sides with the criminals.
During a recent visit by Joe Biden, his handlers apparently authorized him to offer a so-called “strike force” to rein in street violence.
“My hope and my expectation is that they’re going to be coming relatively soon,” Mayor Lightfoot reportedly said. “I’ve made no secret of the fact that this is a matter of incredible urgency, and I think the president’s plan is to make a difference in localities like Chicago this summer.”
The left-wing mayor made strategic remarks that underscore the city’s long-standing problems.
“I believe that violence is a manifestation of systemic problems, and it’s a public health crisis,” Lightfoot reportedly said. “When you see, in way too many neighborhoods, a lack of jobs, a lack of investment — these are historic, decades-long problems.”
Those are precisely the issues that Republicans cited for decades as well. Liberal policy-makers in Chicago pushed for increased welfare and higher taxes to fund their pet projects. The results made the Democrat stronghold a financially unsuitable place to open businesses and provide accompanying jobs. Defunding the police and anti-cop rhetoric pushed by the Democratic Party’s hierarchy has caused a mass exodus from major cities, business closures, and a rising crime wave. Chicago, like San Francisco and New York City, suffers from the self-inflicted wounds of failed political leadership.
“Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children and teenagers in the state of Illinois. That shouldn’t be the case,” Jahmal Cole, founder of My Block, My Hood, My City, reportedly said. “To increase public safety, we need jobs with thriving wages, affordable housing, and public mental health services.”
