Cops, Lies & Videotape
Corporate media parroted police propaganda to falsely blame reformers for 2020’s unprecedented homicide spike.
It’s grotesquely fitting that a failed presidency, inaugurated on the promise that “this American carnage stops right here and stops right now,” would end with unprecedented carnage in its final horrific year.
More than 600,000 Americans were lost to COVID-19 on Donald Trump’s watch because he failed to take the disease seriously. But it wasn’t the only carnage the disgraced “law and order” President must take some credit for. According to statistics released by the FBI, 2020 saw the largest single-year spike in homicides since the federal government began tracking national crime numbers in the 1960s.
While most major crimes decreased and the number of murder and manslaughter cases remained far below the 1990s peak, there were nearly 5,000 more killings in 2020 than the year before, mostly by firearms. Explanations for the nearly 30% uptick included increased gun sales, frustration, job loss and economic hardship related to COVID—perhaps the most obvious game changer in 2020 compared to years prior.
