He treated them to a whopper that is one of his hardy perennials, market-tested during the campaign: He said the U.S. murder rate is "the highest it's been in 47 years," (Not even close: The rate  killings per 100,000 residents  is far below the rates in the 1970s and 1980s.) This Trump Truth (the late Sen. Eugene McCarthy's axiom: Anything said three times in Washington becomes a fact) distracted attention from his assertion to the sheriffs that there is "no reason" to reform law enforcement's civil forfeiture practices.