Joe Biden is doubling down on supporting bail reform — the same kind of “bail reform” that allowed Darrell Brooks to roam free for $1,000 when he made reduced bail after hitting his girlfriend with his car.
A few weeks after that incident, Brooks used that same car to hit dozens of people, killing six in Waukesha, Wisc.
But Biden thinks that despite six dead people — including an eight-year-old boy — there’s nothing wrong with the policy of ending or reducing cash bail.
“Ending cash bail will not automatically put people charged with crimes on the streets,” a White House official told Fox News. “It just means that whether you get bail should be based on the threat you pose, and not how much money you have in your bank account.”
“There shouldn’t be a separate criminal justice system for wealthy Americans,” the official added.
“Ultimately though, this was a decision made by local courts,” the official said, referring to Milwaukee county prosecutors releasing Brooks on bail.
How’s that policy working out for ya? It was only a little mistake, after all. It’s not like they let a mass murderer out on reduced bail, right? Oh…wait.
Mr. Brooks had a history of domestic violence. One glance at his social media would have told anyone how much of a danger this man was to the community.
But because dangerous, violent, homicidal white serial killers are allowed to get out of jail with stupidly low bail, the same courtesy should be shown black violent, homicidal, serial killers, right?
Don’t you love equity?
Related: Biden Doubles Down on Bail Reform After Waukesha Massacre
Kimberley Strassel details the political implications for Democrats, who appear to be amazingly tone-deaf on this issue.
Citizens have already responded at the ballot box. On Nov. 2, Minneapolis voters rejected an initiative to abolish the police force. Pro-policing candidates won mayoral races in New York City ( Eric Adams ), Seattle ( Bruce Harrell ) and Buffalo, N.Y. (incumbent Byron Brown, elected as a write-in candidate after losing the Democratic primary to a self-described socialist). On New York’s Long Island, two Republican district-attorney candidates beat Democrats in races that were referendums on state bail changes that let repeat offenders go free.
Left-wing Democrats are struggling to adjust. Longtime Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm conceded that Waukesha suspect Darrell Brooks —charged with killing six and injuring at least 40 others—had been let out on “inappropriately low” bail. He promised an internal review. The same Mr. Chisholm previously bragged that his office reduced prosecutions, incarcerations, and cash bails.
Incredibly, less than 48 hours after the vehicular assault by Darrell Brooks, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) sent a stern letter to prosecutors in New York’s five boroughs, demanding a substantial reduction in cash bail because the jail at Rikers Island was full.
They just don’t get it. When the White House can glibly claim that the really, really, violent criminals will still be kept behind bars after the massacre in Waukesha, you know the disconnect is complete — from top to bottom in the Democrat Party.
Good luck to Democratic elected officials caught between public backlash over the growing breakdown of safety and progressives who want yet more change. As AOC and her compatriots complained about “unnecessary pretrial detention” in Waukesha’s wake, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan sat down with Axios to defend her support of the 2020 Breathe Act, which would end life sentences, kill the “three strikes” law, prohibit police use of Tasers, and fully empty federal prisons within 10 years. The White House felt compelled to explain Tuesday that President Biden “does not support abolishing prisons.”
Data from the October WSJ/NBC poll found that voters now trust Republicans over Democrats to handle crime by a 22-point margin. Add voter discontent over inflation and Covid, then re-evaluate some of those crucial 2022 swing state races. In Wisconsin a recent Marquette poll found that 69% of registered voters believe crime is rising nationally. Only 19% of independents approve of Mr. Biden, and 23% would vote to re-elect Mr. Evers. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is considered the GOP’s most vulnerable incumbent and hasn’t decided if he’s running. Democrats are making that decision easier.
The really good news for Republicans is that Democrat Party radicals won’t walk anything back, won’t change their ultimate goals, and even if they get a shellacking in 2022, will double and triple down by claiming that the party wasn’t “pure” enough, that all these dirty centrists have to be expelled. Then — victory, for sure.
It’s a recipe for party disaster going into 2024 and beyond.
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