Trump’s 'evidence-free rhetoric' on crime was intended to deceive voters

Her is an excerpt from Ashley Rubin, a social scientist at the University of Hawaii, recent article posted on Radley Balko’s The Watch: 

Donald Trump’s evidence-free rhetoric [on crime] has managed to convince his supporters that violent crime is a major problem. A recent Gallup poll found that three of the five most important issues according to Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters—crime, immigration, and terrorism and national security—are connected to the broader issue of crime. But it’s not just Trump’s supporters—voters in general now care more about crime, even as the crime rates are falling and remain low, historically speaking.

As sociologist Katherine Beckett has demonstrated, the more politicians talk about crime, the more the media talks about crime, and the more citizens become concerned about crime—even when actual crime rates show crime is not the problem citizens think it is.

Trump’s promise to “stop crime and restore safety” sounds good to those voters who believe the hype that violent crime is at historically high levels (it’s not) and that we are in the middle of a crime wave (we’re not), and who believe that Harris plans to gut police departments in order to let violent criminals run free (she doesn’t). The effect is that those who challenge Trump’s depiction of a dangerous America get characterized as being soft on crime or enabling criminality.

Ultimately, by convincing the public that crime is a real threat, Trump isn’t just trying to delegitimize his opponents. He’s also paving the way for the public to accept unnecessary and harmful policy changes that don’t meaningfully bring the crime rate down but help him purge society—whether through deportation or incarceration—of the people he believes shouldn’t be in it.

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