Trump In Trouble: It’s The Economy, Stupid – Not Crime and Terrorists, by David Stockman

David Stockman says Donald Trump should forget all the alt-right hot button issues and concentrate on the economy and impending fiscal catastrophe. That’s not bad advice. From Stockman at antiwar.com:

We don’t get that exercised about President’s Trump’s fondness for alternate facts – especially when they elicit coronaries among the rows of talking heads on CNN. But we do draw the line at alternate reality, as when our new President told the sheriffs’ posse visiting the White House Tuesday that the US murder rate is

“…..the highest it’s been in, I guess, 45-47 years.”

Actually, it’s still near a 45 year low!

In fact, it’s less than half the 1970 rate and two-thirds the rate during the Reagan era. The slight uptick in the national murder rate during 2015-16 (not shown below) was mostly attributable to seven urban areas – Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland,Houston, Milwaukee, Nashville and Washington DC. Even then, only 25 of the nation’s largest 100 cities saw a recent increase in violent crime, according to FBI statistics.

But our purpose is not to quibble with the Donald’s errant facts. The problem is his worldview. When he said at the Republican convention is July that the nation is faced with “a moment of crisis” caused by “violence in our streets and chaos in our communities”, he was talking alternate reality.

The truth is, the vast majority of American communities are safer today than they have been in decades and that violent crime rates have literally plunged. Thus, compared to about 750 reported violent crimes per 100,000 population in 1992, the rated in 2014 was only 375.

Likewise, when he rushed pell-mell to issue the travel ban during the first week in office, he claimed an urgency about terrorists lurking among refugees and visa-holders from the seven named countries that absolutely does not exist.

To continue reading: Trump In Trouble: It’s The Economy, Stupid – Not Crime and Terrorists