Kelly Loeffler is really mad about all this crime happening under Trump

Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) appeared to blame anti-racism protesters this week for a spike in homicides in Atlanta — even though it happened under a Republican president and the Republican governor she fiercely supports.

“This isn’t social justice or peaceful protests. It’s murder,” Loeffler tweeted on Wednesday, sharing an Atlanta Journal-Constitution opinion piece about Atlanta’s rising murder rate. “Weak leaders have demonized law enforcement and allowed deadly violence to destroy communities and families in Atlanta and across America. Georgians deserve better.”

The article states that the city now has “virtually the same murder rate as Chicago,” with about 23 murders per 100,000 people. That number is higher than in recent years.

It does not place blame on protesters nor does it equate the violence with the “defund the police” movement, though it mentions others hijacking that movement to incite violence.

Loeffler, a fierce opponent of the Black Lives Matter movement, has bragged of her “100-percent career record of voting in line with President Trump.” She was appointed to a vacant Senate seat by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in December and is running to fill the remaining two years of the unexpired term.

Trump and others in the Republican Party have similarly sought to blame anti-racism protesters and Democratic local officials for a recent increase in murders in some cities — even though Trump promised in his 2017 inauguration address that he would immediately end the “American carnage” in urban communities.

Trump has even egged on some of the violence himself, fueling anti-immigrant and white nationalist incidents with his rhetoric. Trump supporters and imitators have been behind a mass shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin; a deadly rampage in El Paso, Texas; attempts to pipe bomb Democratic officials; and a recent conspiracy to allegedly kidnap the governor of Michigan.

A Loeffler spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry for this story.

There is no evidence that efforts to reduce systemic racism and police violence have fueled any increase in violence or crime. According to the Brookings Institution, one study of six decades worth of data “found that an increase in funding for police did not significantly relate to a decrease in crime.”

In a September opinion police, criminologist Richard Rosenfeld suggested that “violent crime has risen in many American cities. But calls to defund the police are not the reason.”

“The spike is related in complex ways to both the coronavirus pandemic and social unrest over police violence,” Rosenfeld said.

There has also been some evidence that the proliferation of guns correlates with more homicides. Loeffler boasted on Wednesday on social media that she is “Honored to have the endorsement of the AR-15 Gun Owners of America!” and “proud of my record of protecting the 2nd Amendment.”

Loeffler will face Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D), and several other candidates in next Tuesday’s special election. If no candidate receives more than 50%, the top two candidates will advance to a January runoff.

Recent polls suggest Warnock is likely to advance to a runoff with Collins or Loeffler.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.