Democrats Are Terrible at Talking About MAGA Crimes

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During her press conference on Monday, Karoline Leavitt didn’t want to answer questions about the high price of diesel, why Donald Trump threatened Iran with war crimes, or the military’s alleged use of landmines. What she did want to talk about, however, was one of the many murders that are committed in the US every single day. 

Specifically, it was the killing of Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old college student who was fatally shot on March 19. Her death, according to the White House press secretary, didn’t get enough media attention. Leavitt even brought a prop to illustrate that the non-right-wing press didn’t dedicate a GOP-approved amount of time on covering this particular crime.

Obviously, Gorman’s death is a tragedy. Every homicide is, and the taking of a young life seems especially tragic. 

However, it wasn’t her youth that made her a household name in MAGA circles (although, as a young white woman, she fit the profile of the preferred victim that the Trump administration, GOP lawmakers, and the right-wing media love to talk about). And it certainly wasn’t the fact that she was killed with a gun. 

What set Gorman’s death apart from the approximately 1,000 other murders that have been committed since then was that the perpetrator was an immigrant — because that fits the (incorrect) narrative that Trump et al. want to sell their supporters, i.e., that noncitizens are uniquely prone to commit violent crime.

Never mind that multiple studies have shown that immigrants commit crimes and are incarcerated at a much lower rate than people born in the US. 

However, since reality and evidence matter less to Trump voters than vibes, the MAGA propaganda machine latches onto every crime that fits their worldview and talking points.

That’s why this particular homicide, and not the hundreds of others committed over the past couple of weeks, has been covered extensively on Fox News (here, for example, is one of the network’s congressional correspondents asking House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY) about it); that’s why right-wing influencers post about it endlessly; and that’s why top Republicans like House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA) or Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) keep bringing it up.

And that’s why Leavitt presented a chart on Monday purporting to show that actual news networks devoted less coverage to the Gorman case than it deserved. 

However, the opposite is true. 

Considering the staggering number of murders committed, it should be surprising that this one received any attention. After all, Fox News and all those influencers rarely talk about the dozens of homicides committed daily by nonimmigrants. 

Instead, the fact that the major networks dedicated time to Gorman at all, and not the hundreds of other gun deaths that have occurred since then, is a testament to how effective Republicans and their supporters are in manipulating the media into covering the narratives they want.

It’s why we know the stories of Laken Riley and Iryna Zarutska. Zarutska wasn’t killed by an immigrant but rather by a repeat offender with severe mental health issues. However, her murder was pushed into national prominence because it’s supposed to show that Democrats, especially the one running for an open Senate seat in the swing-state of North Carolina, are soft on crime. 

We are prompted to “say their names,” because — along with the GOP’s media allies regurgitating vague accusations of rampant fraud in blue states — these are the stories that Republicans want to see covered. After all, with the economy falling apart and prices soaring, the only things they can run on in November will be that Trump secured the border and that they support “law and order.”

All of this highlights how good Republicans are at what we call the “anecdotization of the news.” If reality and facts aren’t on their side, they simply find a story that “confirms” their desired narrative.

This kind of emotional misdirection is deployed in many different scenarios: Climate change isn’t real because it’s cold outside today. Prices are down because one item is on sale in the grocery store. Tens of millions of immigrants are violent thugs because one of them killed a white girl. 

Democrats, on the other hand, are typically bad at drawing attention to damning facts about their electoral rivals.  

Even though they are accused of being in cahoots with the purveyors of “fake news,” it’s rare that they control entire news cycles with narratives of their own. (Again, we are not trying to downplay Gorman’s murder or that of Riley or Zarutska. We are merely pointing out that homicides occur every half hour in the US, and virtually none of them get national attention.)

To be fair, part of the Democrats’ problem when it comes to weaponizing the news is that they cannot match the right-wing misinformation machine. 

Unlike Trump and the GOP, they cannot rely on an army of truth-challenged influencers who dominate social media with their incendiary rhetoric that resonates with gullible low-information voters. 

More importantly, there is no equivalent on the left to Fox News, an unapologetic propaganda network that is at least partially responsible for much of what ails the nation right now; far from taking its cues from Republicans, Fox often leads the way. 

Still, that doesn’t excuse that Democrats are hardly ever trying… and they have ample opportunity to do so, especially when it comes to the issues of crime, fraud, and corruption. 

They should, for example, highlight the case of Andrew Paul Johnson, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for multiple sex crimes he perpetrated against at least one kid under the age of 12 and another under the age of 16.

Johnson, who has a long criminal history, was among those sentenced for his involvement in Trump’s January 6, 2021, insurrection. According to his arrest report, he told the victims that, if they stayed quiet, he would share the millions of dollars he expected to be awarded as part of his pardon. 

Why don’t Democrats highlight his case, and the fact that he was at large because he was pardoned for crimes committed on January 6 — especially since Republicans claim to care so much about sex crimes against minors?

Johnson is far from the only insurrectionist who is either facing new charges or has already been convicted for crimes committed after being pardoned by Trump. 

In fact, there are nearly three dozen known cases involving crimes including the solicitation of minors, possession of child pornography, aggravated sexual battery of a child under the age of 13, sexual exploitation of a minor, conspiracy to defraud the United States, killing a motorist while intoxicated, conspiracy to murder law enforcement officers, rape, armed robbery, and aggravated kidnapping.

Or what about saying the names of the dozen detainees who have died in ICE custody, many of whom were denied medical care? 

Or the nearly blind refugee who died after federal agents dropped him off at a closed coffee shop in the dead of winter? 

Or all those fraudsters Trump pardoned without making their victims (and taxpayers) whole?

Sure, the media is covering these cases and Democrats talk about them sporadically, but that is nothing compared to the full-court press the GOP would put on if the shoe were on the other foot. 

We know that this would work. 

It certainly did earlier this year after federal agents killed two American citizens in Minnesota. The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti galvanized an anti-ICE movement and swung public opinion against the lawless actions of the Trump administration. 

For a moment, Democrats had the upper hand on an issue that was one of the president’s biggest strengths. But they have stopped pressing their advantage, and this is one of their biggest shortcomings. 

Republicans and their allies will keep talking about Gorman (or the next white woman killed by an immigrant) and Zarutska as though they were the only two homicide victims in the country and not a couple among 20,000 annually.

They will prompt the media to continue covering these stories and ask Democrats questions that keep the issue alive no matter what they say.

Along with Trump’s efforts to rig the midterms, being viewed as soft on both crime and immigration is the biggest hurdle they have to overcome if they are to secure a predicted massive victory in November. 

But they won’t do that by just repeating focus-group-tested talking points. They have to go on the attack, hammer home the facts showing how hypocritical the GOP is, and keep the heat on Republicans who routinely turn a blind eye toward the many serious crimes this administration, and the president’s avowed supporters, are committing.

Simply put, it’s time for Democrats to stop letting the right-wing propaganda machine dominate the national conversation over these hot-button issues.