The “gotcha” game Democrats are trying to play on crime isn’t just dishonest — it’s backfiring in real time. Ever since President Trump federalized law enforcement in Washington, D.C., critics on the left have been recycling the same tired talking point: “If Trump cares so much about crime in D.C., why isn’t he calling in the National Guard for red states with high crime rates?”
On Wednesday, CNN’s Dana Bash tried that exact line on Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), asking why he supported Guard deployments in D.C. but not Memphis. Burchett’s response was simple and devastating: “[Memphis is] not a federally created environment. Washington, D.C., is a federally created environment. It is our nation’s capital. It is within the president’s constitutional purview to take the actions he did.” End of story.
Marcus Lemonis, the Executive Chairman for Bed Bath & Beyond, just announced that his company will NO LONGER OPERATE in California:
“California has created one of the most overregulated, expensive, and risky environments for businesses in America. It’s a system that makes it… pic.twitter.com/57Ucj0EuyG
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 20, 2025
But not for Gavin Newsom. The California governor, notorious for his own disastrous record on crime and authoritarian COVID policies, went further. In an interview with far-left YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen, Newsom launched into a profanity-laced tirade:
“I think he should start with Shreveport, Louisiana, and Speaker Johnson’s district, that has six-plus times the per capita murder rate of Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco. What about the carnage, Mr. President, in Shreveport? Why aren’t you protecting the folks there? Eight of the top ten murder states in this country are red states. What bulls**t. And everyone knows it.”
The company that already went bankrupt and closed every store across the country two years ago? Ok. https://t.co/lW43NTBeEc
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) August 20, 2025
This is classic Newsom: rage, projection, and no self-awareness. Here’s a man who locked down his state so hard people were arrested for going to the beach, even as he dined maskless at the French Laundry. Here’s a man who presided over record homelessness, open-air drug markets, and criminal-friendly policies that drove businesses out of San Francisco and Los Angeles. And now he thinks he’s in a position to lecture about law and order?
There are two glaring problems with his rant. First, Newsom ignores the obvious: Washington, D.C. is federal territory — meaning Trump, as president, has direct constitutional authority there. That authority doesn’t extend to Shreveport, or Memphis, or anywhere else in the states. Apples and oranges.
Bed Bath & Beyond Executive Chairman Marcus Lemonis pushes back on Gavin Newsom’s attacks after the company announced it will not open any stores in California:
“Well, I think the thing that was surprising to me was that I tried to articulate, in a non-aggressive way, exactly… pic.twitter.com/Kh6979ACUA
— Sean Hannity 🇺🇸 (@seanhannity) August 21, 2025
Second, Newsom can’t even get his facts straight. He tried to pin Shreveport’s crime problem on House Speaker Mike Johnson, saying it’s “his district.” In reality, most of Shreveport is represented by Democrat Rep. Cleo Fields. Johnson represents only a small slice of the area. In other words, Newsom’s attack boomeranged — he accidentally indicted his own party.
This is the Democrats’ problem in a nutshell. They shout “authoritarianism” whenever Trump enforces the law, while their own cities are drowning in crime thanks to soft-on-crime policies they imposed. They try to score points by citing red state statistics but overlook the reality that the worst crime is concentrated in blue-run cities and counties inside those states.
