Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, conservative politicians won campaigns in part by positioning themselves as “tough on crime” and talking about “the rule of law.” Later, during the Trump administration, it was the Democrats who positioned themselves as the defenders of law and order. Now, despite fielding a presidential candidate who faces 91 felony criminal charges, some Republican candidates are again trying to position themselves as “tough on crime.”
Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette argues that “tough on crime” candidates in both parties have traditionally targeted racial minorities, particularly Black and Latino populations. Navarrette worries that candidates across the political spectrum might do this again in the years ahead if this rhetoric continues. Navarrette suggests that the greater threat today, however, is the anti-law extremism of the far-right MAGA movement.
Welcome back, law and order Republicans, you tough-on-crime, gun-totin’ Wyatt Earp-worshipping scallywags. You’ve been on vacation, vacay now, for what, five, no seven years.
In January 2017, when Donald Trump was sworn in as president and put his hand on the Bible, which miraculously didn’t explode, that was your cue to go on holiday and quit preaching about the rule of law. Now here you are, back from your getaway. Quicker than you can say “hypocrite,” you’ve fallen back into familiar rhetoric about how people must be held accountable for the wicked they do. It’s just like old times.
In the 1980s, with Ronald Reagan and later George H.W. Bush in the White House, you really drove home that sermon about how the United States is a country of laws. There’s nothing more sacred than the rule of law, you said. You fought with civil libertarians who argued that your pro-cop agenda cut too many corners.
Attorney General Ed Meese, a Republican, called the American Civil Liberties Union a “criminal’s lobby.” Conservatives passed three-strikes laws and waged the war on drugs. Right-wingers were especially eager to drop the hammer if the alleged offender was Black or Latino. In your book, these people were inferior human beings from violent cultures who deserved no mercy. You said they grew up in dysfunctional families without values or discipline.