Photo : Tasos Katopodis ( Getty Images )

During a taxpayer-funded White House trip to Orlando, Fla., Donald Trump told a group of police officers from all across the country that law enforcement in Chicago should start the slave patrols back up again implement a “stop and frisk” policy if they want to put an end to the gun violence that plagues the city.


In what the Washington Post describes as a “hard-edged and at times overtly political address,” Trump told his audience at the annual convention of the International Association of Chiefs of Police that he directed U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ office to visit Chicago immediately to help address the deadly shootings.

“We’re going to straighten it out and we’re going to straighten it out fast,” Trump said. He added later: “Let’s see whether or not Chicago accepts help. They need it.”


Trump’s plan of action is to use the “stop and frisk” policy, which gives police the authority to stop, question and frisk anyone they deem “suspicious” or “dangerous” or suspect may have committed a crime.

It is a policy that was used by the New York Police Department during the Rudy Giuliani era of the 1990s and early 2000s. It was widely criticized as being a form of racial profiling, and a federal judge ruled in 2013 that it was unconstitutional and discriminatory.

But of course, as the Post notes, your president cited Giuliani’s use of the policy as a good thing—because he’s an idiot who never bothers to read or learn anything.

Or, conversely, he is possibly the greatest spreader of propaganda of all time.

As Trump bemoans the terrible state of affairs in the Windy City, the Chicago Police Department reported last week that the number of homicides in the first nine months of 2018 is down 21 percent from that same time period in 2017 (419 vs. 520). Department statistics show the number of shootings is down 17 percent.


Taking us back to the days of “show me your papers” is not going to be the crime stopper your president thinks it is.

It’s just another way to enable a police culture that has already proven to be deadly for black people.


Even Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office saw the baiting for what it was.

“Even someone as clueless as Donald Trump has to know stop-and-frisk is simply not the solution to crime,” Spokesman Matt McGrath said in an emailed statement to the Post. “Just last week CPD reported there have been 100 fewer murders and 500 fewer shooting victims in Chicago this year, the second straight year of declines—all while we’ve been making reforms to restore trust with residents. The fact that he’s trotting out this tired rhetoric is another sign he’s worried about Republicans in the midterms.”


During the same speech, the Post reports Trump also pit law enforcement against the media, saying there is not enough coverage of the fact that Americans love law enforcement.

I mean, Americans love McDonald’s too. Are we covering that?

Trump also trotted out propaganda saying that the Democratic agenda is “anti-police,” escalates “political attacks on our courageous police officers” and makes “life easier for criminals and more dangerous for law-abiding citizens.”


It is clear Trump is rallying up law enforcement as a core part of his base.

The racist implications of “stop and frisk” are almost like a promise that they will be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want, with impunity.


Same as it ever was.