White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki put a bit of daylight between the administration and some recent out-of-touch comments from far-left figures like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on the subject of recent organized mass robbery incidents taking place in several large cities.
She’s not doubting the existence, she’s ignoring it and emboldening it.
GOP, businesses slam AOC for doubting existence of smash-and-grab robberies: ‘Tone-deaf and offensive’https://t.co/ItGsQePWm1
— Bernard B. Kerik (@BernardKerik) December 5, 2021
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Trying To Get Out In Front Of It
During the press briefing Tuesday, Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News asked Psaki if she could comment on some of the remarks made by Ocasio-Cortez and Lightfoot.
Ocasio-Cortez has doubted the fact that the robberies are taking place. Lightfoot has implied that businesses are to blame for not having enough security measures in place.
Psaki replied matter-of-factly, “We don’t agree.” But she continued,
“We have seen some of these extremely disturbing videos showing retail theft. State and local leaders like Governor Gavin Newsom have identified this as a serious concern. We agree. That’s the reason why we have sent additional support from the FBI providing additional assistance. It’s one of the reasons why the president and members of our administration have been longtime advocates for supporting and funding the COPS program.”
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It seems there is still a chasm between the Biden admin and the far-left of the Democrat Party.
The pure tone deaf arrogance of the Progressive Left is astounding. They want to Defund the Police and then deny that the result is an increase in crime. https://t.co/fC2GIeLIxD
— Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D. (@RepGregMurphy) December 5, 2021
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Progressives Completely Out Of Touch
In a recent interview with the Washington Times, the fact that Ocasio-Cortez is completely out of touch with what is going on in the rest of the country outside of the D.C. bubble was on full display.
While discussing the smash-and-grab robberies that are being seen in deep blue cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, Ocasio-Cortez posited that “a lot of these allegations of organized retail theft are not actually panning out.” She added, “I believe it’s a Walgreens in California cited it, but the data didn’t back it up.”
But back in October, Walgreen’s spokesman Phil Caruso said that, “Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot appeared to shift blame of these incidents in much the same way she does the rampant violence in her city. She laid blame for the incidents at the feet of business owners, saying:
“I’m disappointed that they’re not doing more to take safety and make it a priority. For example, we still have retailers that won’t institute measures like having security officers in their stores, making sure that they’ve got cameras that are actually operational.”
If you own a business in downtown Chicago @chicagosmayor says you should do more to protect your store.
Then why pay such high property taxes? @MorningAnswer pic.twitter.com/jlTWSMv4t7
— Amy Jacobson (@AmyJacobson) December 6, 2021
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In California, where many of these smash-and-grab robberies are occurring, officials were very quiet about Ocasio-Cortez’s comments. According to a Fox News report, there have been no statements from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, Sens. Dianne Feinstein or Alex Padilla’s offices, or San Francisco Mayor London Breed or Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Republican House members and those in the retail industry had no problem calling out AOC for her remarks. Rep. Rodney Davis said, “I don’t know what data she is talking about.”
Jason Brewer, senior vice president of communications for the Retail Industry Leaders Association was also very blunt about AOC’s comments:
“Respectfully, the Congresswoman has no idea what she is talking about. Both the data and stack of video evidence makes fairly clear that this is a growing problem in need of solutions. If she is not concerned with organized theft and increasingly violent attacks on retail employees, she should just say that.”
It should also not go unnoticed that nine out of ten cities with the highest upticks in crime are run by Democrats. AOC could not be reached for comment on that.
Peter Doocy: ‘When a huge group of criminals organizes themselves and they want to go loot a store, a CVS, Nordstorm, a Home Depot until the shelves are clean, you think that’s because of the pandemic?’
PSAKI: ‘yes’https://t.co/XUpOsriUoT
— Mr Producer (@RichSementa) December 2, 2021
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