Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi’s resolution to nominate an “emergency police commissioner” in Washington, D.C., is simply the most recent try to vary an more and more uncomfortable topic for the White Home. Final month, President Donald Trump instructed the American individuals he was by no means briefed on the information relating to Jeffrey Epstein, who in 2019 was charged with intercourse trafficking minors. We now know that Bondi instructed the president in Might that his title appeared a number of instances in these information, which traced Epstein’s operation again to the mid-Nineteen Nineties.
So — both you consider a metropolis experiencing a 30-year low in crime is abruptly in want of an emergency police commissioner otherwise you agree with Joe Rogan’s evaluation: This administration is gaslighting the general public relating to these information.
Now there shall be pundits who will attempt to say Republicans are too centered on kitchen desk points to care in regards to the Epstein controversy.
If solely that had been true.
In response to the Shopper Worth Index, goods cost more today than they did a month ago. And costs are greater than they had been a 12 months in the past. It might be great if Congress had been in session to deal with kitchen desk points like grocery costs. Nonetheless, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ended the Home session early to keep away from a vote on the discharge of the Epstein information — a vote that might have displeased Trump. These are the lengths some within the MAGA motion are prepared to go to stop the general public from figuring out the reality about Epstein’s purchasers. That’s the backdrop for what’s presently taking place within the streets of Washington. It’s not impressed by an increase in crime, however by a worry of transparency.
It’s necessary to have a look at Bondi’s “emergency police commissioner” resolution with clear, discerning eyes as a result of the administration is purposefully conflating the problems of crime and homelessness with a view to win again help from Trump’s base. Whereas it’s true that the district has made enormous progress towards crime, and the variety of unhoused residents is far lower than a decade ago, even though homeless populations nationwide have soared, the rise of conspicuous encampments round Washington is likely one of the causes Virginia was virtually in a position to lure away the town’s NBA and NHL groups. Nonetheless, the nation’s capital was in a position to maintain these sports activities franchises due to the management of Mayor Muriel Bowser.
As a substitute of taking on the town’s police power, maybe Bondi ought to ask Bowser for some recommendation that might be replicated in different cities nationwide. Ask the mayor’s workplace what sources it’d have to proceed its progress on homelessness and crime. However once more, this actually isn’t about what advantages the individuals, is it? It’s actually about what’s in the very best curiosity of 1 individual.
Now there shall be pundits who will attempt to inform you Republicans are too centered on making this nation “nice” to fret about who’s within the Epstein information. I ask you, when has trampling over democracy ever made us nice? In Iran, we contributed to the overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddegh within the Nineteen Fifties, and we proceed to be at odds with the nation. In Chile within the early Nineteen Seventies, we moved towards Salvador Allende, and it took 20 years to normalize our relationship once more.
Right here at residence, in 2010, the state of Michigan took over the predominantly Black metropolis of Benton Harbor beneath the guise of a monetary emergency. The Metropolis Council was prevented from governing as state officers tried to save lots of the town from a crippling pension deficit and different monetary shortages. There was short-term reprieve, however Benton Harbor remains to be on financial life help. That’s as a result of the difficulty wasn’t the insurance policies of the native authorities. It was the lasting results of dropping a lot tax income to a neighboring suburb on account of white flight. The reason for Benton Harbor’s woes lies previously, not the current.
The identical is true in Washington. The comparatively younger suburbs of McLean and Nice Falls, Va., are two of the richest within the nation. When you have got the identical monetary obligations of yesteryear however much less tax income to function with, there shall be shortfalls. And people gaps manifest themselves in some ways — rundown houses, empty storefronts, a scarcity of college sources.
These are reliable plagues affecting each main metropolis. What Bondi is doing in Washington isn’t a remedy for what ails it. And when you think about why she’s doing what she’s doing, you’re reminded why individuals are so sick of politics.
©2025 Los Angeles Instances. Go to latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
