Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) received the appropriate sympathy after a disturbed, repeat offender with no known address attacked her on Capitol Hill. But the ensuing media coverage of the Minnesota Congresswoman has deliberately omitted her own voting record on crime and public safety.
Craig not only voted to eliminate qualified immunity for police officers and co-sponsored H.R. 1280, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, but was finally forced to admit her "thinking has evolved” on the ‘defund the police’ movement.1
Which begs the question, ‘evolved’ from what?
From the same ‘soft on crime’ obsession that absolutely every other Minnesota Democrat embraced during 2020’s ‘summer of love,’ that’s what.
The nation has yet to heal from the riots over the death George Floyd and the ensuing crime wave shows few signs of abating. The Twin Cities has been wracked by homicide records and the national rate remains 34% higher than it was in 2019.2 The ugly truth is Minnesota exported a lawless agenda that only George Soros could dream about.
The result was over $2 billion worth of damage—surpassing the 1992 Rodney King riots in economic losses and the 1965 Watts riots in sheer impact.3 At least 25 people lost their lives, more than 750 law enforcement officers were injured, and numerous citizens were dragged from their cars and beaten.4
And it was all set in stone once Gov. Tim Walz and the Minneapolis City Council stood down, gave up the 3rd police precinct and decided “not to engage” BLM or Antifa.5 City and state officials froze in place while they neglected the first duty of government—to keep the citizenry safe.
I write extensively about it all in Party Animal, The Truth About President Trump, Power Politics & the Partisan Press:
Twelve cities, including St. Paul, set homicide records in 2021. Carjackings had become so commonplace by the end of the year that Minneapolis police were warning people not to get out of their cars if they’re in a fender bender. Elderly grandmothers were hospitalized by thugs in bar shootouts, New Year’s Eve gunfire broke out at the Mall of America, and there were more assaults on police officers than at any time on record.
