Last summer, we saw a spike in violent crime, amidst left-wing riots and calls from Democrats to defund the police. At the time, CNN duo Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon literally laughed at these concerns, dismissing the skyrocketing crime as an exaggerated right wing narrative.
Well, one year later, they are finally admitting that the rise of violent crime around the country may have been due to radical left-wing policies and it was hurting Democrats...but only because Republicans pointed it out.
During the handoff to last night’s Don Lemon Tonight, Cuomo praised Joe Biden for bashing election security laws as a relic of “Jim Crow” before warning Democrats to watch out for the GOP’s messaging on crime, because it resonated with Americans.
“I think he's going to have a problem with crime that I think he's going to have to figure out. I think that's a Democrat problem,” he bluntly stated. Lemon asked him to elaborate and Cuomo went on to blame Democratic “reforms and rhetoric” like defund the police as playing into Republicans’ hands:
I think crime is going to be made politically into a democratic problem because of reforms that went too far, because of rhetoric that went too far, and because they are too slow to the punch. And the right will say it even if it's without basis because crime matters to people. And then they'll be late to the game once again. Even though they could say it was on Trump's watch…
Arguing that reforms were “important,” he wondered if the far-left wing of the Democrat party had gone too far:
“But did the reforms go too far? Are judges hands' tied on discretion for gun crimes in a way and releasing people from prison in ways that are making things worse when it comes to shooting?” he posed to his colleague.
Lemon conceded this may be the case but he wanted more evidence this caused a rise in murders because what he’s seen has been “anecdotal.” Even Cuomo had to admit, “New York, and Chicago, and San Francisco are all test cases of reforms that have created questionable results.”
Cuomo added, “[Y]ou have a lot of people who get arrested for crimes where they're using a loaded weapon and they wind up being out back on the street,” which both hosts agreed “should not happen.”
Pretending like he had always pushed back against the far-left’s narratives on race and policing, Lemon went on to slam defund the police as harmful, citing candidate Eric Adams’ success in the New York City mayoral race [click expand to read more]:
The whole thing about defunding the police and the whole crime issue happening across the country, I had been saying gosh now, for months, even before they had had all the Democrats stacked up, as goes New York, so goes the rest of the country. The New York City mayoral race is going to be a litmus test for the rest of the country. I have been trying to get the candidates on. Some of it, there wasn't time because the rest of the country just was not interested, wasn't close enough, but I knew this would be, as I said, a litmus test for the rest of the country, and I think that this really exposed where Democrats -- you say this is a Democrat problem -- where Democrats are actually on crime, where they are actually as a party. I think it exposed so much about the left and the rhetoric on the right. This one race in New York City, I believe, did that.
Playing off of that, Cuomo went on to lecture the far-left, saying their “woke” problem was harming Democrats because it played into the GOP’s “attack narrative” on rising crime:
Wokeness is a problem for you guys. I'll tell you why. It plays into an attack narrative where they're going to use crime as proof of what happens when you make everything okay in a society, and if anybody fights for the traditional values and what's supposed to happen in law and order and you say, no, no, no, you're not woke enough, this is what you get, these crime numbers.
The duo argued whether these reforms and "woke" ideologies were on in the same, before fretting that President Biden's ratings on crime with voters were evidence the GOP's attacks were working.
But nearly a year ago they were singing a different tune. Lemon mocked the logical idea that defunding and abolishing police departments had led to an increase in crime. Here’s what they said on the July 8, 2020 handoff to Lemon’s show:
LEMON: “Democratic cities are in chaos right now. Is this what you want from Joe Biden? And they’re gonna take your country away. And they’re taking down the statues.”
CUOMO: “Crime is rising!”
LEMON: “Crime is rising!”
CUOMO: “Defund police.”
LEMON: “Oh my gosh! It’s so bad and they get defunding the police.” And it’s like --- [ROLLS EYES] And the people who you saw there for the most part --- not --- not them specifically. I’m talking about as a whole. Fall for it. They fall for it and that's why they do things like what they did. They want to paint over signs and think “it's our country.”
CNN’s hypocritical flip flop was paid for by advertiser HBO Max, contact them at the Conservatives fight back page here.
Read the transcript portions below:
Don Lemon Tonight
7/13/2021
CHRIS CUOMO: I think he's going to have a problem with crime that I think he's going to have to figure out. I think that's a Democrat problem. Now he just said this is the test of our time. Can he get the Democrats in the senate and the house to come together to stop the voting rights restrictions that are fanning out all over this country?
DON LEMON: Why is that-- do you think that's a Democrat -- or democratic, as it should be said, problem?
CUOMO: I think crime is going to be made politically into a democratic problem because of reforms that went too far, because of rhetoric that went too far, and because they are too slow to the punch. And the right will say it even if it's without basis because crime matters to people. And then they'll be late to the game once again. Even though they could say it was on Trump's watch and Democrat presidents Obama and Clinton before had good crime policies and the soft on crime thing has never been the right rap -- now they have the right rap. Including in New York, where my brother is the governor. Bail reform is important. People rot in jails wrongly. But did the reforms go too far? Are judges hands' tied on discretions for gun crimes in a way and releasing people from prison in ways that are making things worse when it comes to shooting?
LEMON: Well that's a discussion, especially the thing about bail reform.Because I know it's been said a lot. Bill Bratton, the police commissioner I respect very highly has been on the show and others. Even during the pandemic, I don't know if you remember we had a town hall with police chiefs from major cities all across this country talking about those issues. So far, though -- so far -- and they could be right. I haven't seen any empirical evidence that it is bail reform, of course people who are violent criminals should not be let out, if someone commits a crime, they should not be let out.
CUOMO: New York, and Chicago, and San Francisco are all test cases of reforms that have created questionable results.
LEMON: Much of it though has been anecdotal. I want to see the research of the real results.
CUOMO: Covid's part of it too. It's not going to be one thing. But you had a lot more people in prisons in New York and in other big states, and you have a lot less now, and you have a lot of people who get arrested for crimes where they're using a loaded weapon and they wind up being out back on the street.
LEMON: That's not good. And that should not happen.
CUOMO: No it shouldn’t.
…
LEMON: The whole thing about defunding the police and the whole crime issue happening across the country, I had been saying gosh now, for months, even before they had had all the Democrats stacked up, as goes New York, so goes the rest of the country. The New York City mayoral race is going to be a litmus test for the rest of the country. I have been trying to get the candidates on. Some of it, there wasn't time because the rest of the country just was not interested, wasn't close enough, but I knew this would be, as I said, a litmus test for the rest of the country, and I think that this really exposed where Democrats -- you say this is a Democrat problem -- where Democrats are actually on crime, where they are actually as a party. I think it exposed so much about the left and the rhetoric on the right. This one race in New York City, I believe, did that.
...
