On the recordJanuary 28, 2025
Mr. President, the murder rate in the United States today--the global murder rate--is infinitesimal. It is a fraction of what it was 200 years ago, 400 years ago, 600 years ago--a fraction of what it likely was in the Bronze Age or in the days when native Tribes patrolled this land. What we have seen over the course of global history is that human beings have decided that instead of advancing our social power or our economic power or our political power through violence, we are going to have law and order. We are going to have economies that reward merit. We are going to punish people who disobey those laws to protect the rest of us, and that has served us really, really well. Today, you are fundamentally less likely to be attacked, to be murdered by a neighbor, by somebody you have a contest with than you were centuries ago. Donald Trump is throwing that out the window. Donald Trump is throwing out the window the idea that we only advance ourselves politically or economically or socially through nonviolent means. What happened last week is that Donald Trump said to this country: If you use violence on my behalf, you are off the hook.…
Source
govinfo.gov




