SCOOP: RSC members lay out why crime rates are worse in blue states during National Guard meet and greet
Republicans are united in their support for the National Guard, as multiple House GOP events showed recently.
President Donald Trump’s emergency takeover of Washington, D.C. law enforcement has expired, but National Guard troops remain in the streets of D.C. — and Republican lawmakers in the Republican Study Committee (RSC) are pulling out all the stops to make them want to stay long-term.
During an early morning meet-and-greet with National Guard troops on the National Mall, Rep. Buddy Carter (R., Ga.) handed out Chick-fil-A sandwiches, reminding the guardsmen and guardswomen present that Chick-fil-A is a great Georgia company.
Carter was joined by Reps. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.), Mary Miller (R., Ill.), and Randy Fine (R., Fla.) — all of whom agreed that policies driven by Democrats are why blue states and cities see so much crime.
Miller outright welcomed President Trump sending the National Guard to Chicago, whereas Tenney asked “would we want the National Guard there? Not if we had good laws in place.” Both Republicans, however, said that their states do not have good laws in place.
“Chicago has the highest murder rate in the country and JB Pritzker has not done anything about it,” Miller lamented. “He’s turned us into a sanctuary state and Chicago into a sanctuary city. The people there in Chicago want President Trump to send the National Guard in.”
Miller spoke about her recent conversation with Englewood’s Pastor Corey Brooks. “He said they are waiting for the National Guard to come in,” Miller said, recounting their conversation. “And not only are they dealing with the traumatic crime issues, but this is terrible for business. A majority of businesses along the Magnificent Mile have closed, and our ridiculous Mayor of Chicago is even calling for people to come to Chicago to invest. No, people are leaving Chicago. Investment is leaving, it is not coming there until crime is tamped down.”
“They are counting on President Trump to send in the National Guard and do what he did in D.C.,” she said.
Tenney, for her part, said that “ideally, we should change the laws, but New York has a left-wing majority. The left-wing Democratic Socialists of America basically are the tail wagging the dog in Albany.”
While New York City gets much of the national attention, Tenney explained that the problem is statewide. “In New York State, we have cashless bail, we have all of these laws that have created this terrible crime situation, and I must emphasize that it is not just New York City,” she said. “You can go to local town, a small city in Upstate New York, and find the same problems: handcuffing the police, not allowing them to do their common sense work to fight criminals.”
Tenney blamed many, including her controversial governor. “Kathy Hochul has a veto-proof majority, she doesn’t do anything, she actually coddles these left-wing socialists, and you now have an imminent mayor of New York City, the largest city in our country, is going to be Zohran Mamdani, who is an anti-police, anti-Semitic, anti-incarceration guy,” she said. “He is going to have a significant impact on the city of New York and it’ll reverberate across the state.”
Fine had a much sunnier outlook, as befits someone representing the Sunshine State. “In Florida, we’re the opposite,” he beamed. “We don’t have these problems. We don’t need the National Guard, and it’s because we’ve had 30 years of consistent conservative governance across multiple governors, across hundreds of state legislators.”
“We just don’t put up with this stuff in Florida, and we’ve shown with the results that this is a choice, what they do in Chicago or in Upstate New York — that’s a choice that politicians have made, and we know this is a choice because we see that we don’t make that choice in Florida,” he said. “If these governors, if these mayors, aren’t going to solve these problems themselves, then Florida will offer our National Guardsmen up, because we care about every American and we want them to live the way we live in Florida, which is safe and secure.”
The message from the RSC members echoes precisely what House GOP leadership — Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R., La.), and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R., Minn.) recently emphasized at a leadership press conference.
“We live in the greatest nation in the history of the world,” Johnson said. “We have the greatest capital in all of the world…we need to confirm the American people that they do not need to fear for their lives when they drive to the grocery store or they pick up their son or daughter from school.”
“I cannot, for the life of me, understand how the Democrats think this is some sort of winning political message,” the Speaker of the House continued. “Yield, man, let the troops come into your, into your city and show how crime can be reduced. It’s a morale boost for the country and…right for everybody involved.”
The Reporter asked Speaker Johnson how many more American citizens and legal immigrants will have to be murdered before Democrats reverse course.
“The residents and the law abiding citizens and all these cities should be asking local leadership: how long are you gonna put up with this?” he said. “When are you going to put your foot down and do the right thing?...Do you want to reduce carjackings by 85 percent in your city? Because that’s what’s happened in D.C. since President Trump got involved.”
Emmer and Scalise singled out two Midwestern Democratic Governors — Tim Walz and JB Pritzker — for criticism. “They stand with criminals,” Emmer said, specifically criticizing his home state governor.
“We’re going to do it on our own,” Scalise added, jabbing Illinois’s oversized governor in the process.