Despite optimism from many after President Trump’s address, the mainstream media is still expected to fuel divisive rhetoric…
I turned on the news the morning after President Trump’s first Joint Congressional Speech to see the usual suspects on both sides belting out talking points ranging from glowing support for the president’s performance to the “sky is falling” rhetoric we’re all well acquainted with by now.
Then, something strange happened. I found myself in agreement with CNN’s Van Jones, which was probably a first for me. He made the point that whether you love him or hate him, Trump showed he was firmly in command of the presidency by delivering a unifying smash hit of a speech that had something for every American. The fact that this populist speech has garnered some mainstream crossover appeal without being all that much different than others Trump has given makes me wonder if there is at least some effort being made by the mainstream media to get in line with the will of the American people. Even if it is merely an attempt to save face, I welcome it.
Jones may make me regret these words with his next “whitelash” comment, but I’ll still type them. I’ll still give him his due, because even as a Trump voter who is excited about the trail we are blazing, I am likewise critical of him at times. We should all maintain a watchful eye on those making decisions that shape the future we’ll leave for our kids. Our nation was founded on skepticism and a refusal to lie down for anyone. We would still be waving the Union Jack if our founding fathers were the cartoonish embodiment of “Bernie Bots” and “Trumpkins.” If someone like Van Jones is ready to make a move toward the center, maybe it’s a sign of things to come. So before I get into what many police officers like me loved about the speech, I’ll just mention one thing this cop really wished was said differently.
Trump ultimately stood in front of the world and pledged to end the war on drugs, which I imagine left many cops rolling their eyes. If I am correct in assuming that the next WikiLeaks dump won’t be a cache of emails detailing Trump’s plans for the legalization of drugs, I can only come to the conclusion that he is saying police are going to win this war with the same tactics we’ve always used. As a street cop, I have arrested addicts of all stripes. I’ve knocked down the doors of dealers, made arrests, confiscated narcotics, and seized earnings to see the same dope house up and running again. So you hit it a second time, and a third.
As a school resource officer, I have seen the result of feral children from crack-addicted sperm donors and egg hatchers locked in a vicious cycle that repeats over and over again. The most regressive section of the left wing gets caught up in the hierarchical pecking order of groups competing in the Victim Olympics to win the award for “most dehumanized,” but some of the most dehumanizing acts I’ve ever witnessed are the crimes committed by drug addicts against their own children.
It’s no secret that police and the criminal justice system have been getting our clocks cleaned for decades in this war on drugs. Sure, we take photo ops of a big drug bust every so often, but it’s all just a drop in the bucket. President Trump could have some tricks up his sleeve that I very well may end up being a fan of, but building that wall, deporting drug-trafficking illegal immigrants, and unleashing crime fighters on Chicago are merely a common-sense approach for improvement. Even if executed in the most efficient of ways, fewer alien felons and murders in ‘Chiraq’ are not going to end the war on drugs by a long shot. The inevitability of a failure to deliver on this impossible promise will leave him wide open for attacks from his opponents for the next four to eight years.
Now, on to the positives.
One thing I really appreciate about this president is that he keeps demonstrating through both his words and actions why police voted overwhelmingly for him in the first place. Trump’s shout-out to the families of two California police officers killed in the line of duty made a heavy impact on me. I couldn’t help but think of my own daughters watching Jenna Oliver emotionally look up at her mother Susan as the president told her that her father was a hero and that the entire country was behind her. I know nothing can ever bring that young girl’s father back, but I’m left hoping that the memory of a United States president announcing her father’s heroism to her in front of the world might be something she holds onto for consolation as she grows up without her dad.
Support trickling down from the top that had been grossly absent the past eight years is what gives cops the sense of reassurance that this administration has our back. It is the same type of reassurance that service members must have felt when Carryn Owens, the wife of recently fallen Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, was also honored during the speech. You could really tell what a strong woman Owens is, as she contorted her face and exhaled methodically to keep the tears back for over two minutes of being the most watched person on the planet. It is this show of personal strength that leaves me no doubt she’ll be able to withstand the negativity. Regressives are already shamelessly heaping on her.
In addition to supporting the families we leave behind, Trump had this to say to America in regards to police officers:
Police and sheriffs are members of our community. They are friends and neighbors, they are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters—and they leave behind loved ones every day who worry whether or not they’ll come home safe and sound. We must support the incredible men and women of law enforcement.
Despite its own instant poll showing that the speech made 7 in 10 Americans feel “more optimistic” for the country, I fear CNN and other weaponized media will continue to use divisive reporting to bolster civil unrest that police will be forced to combat on the front lines for years to come. Unfortunately for Jones, he is getting killed by the hive mind of the regressive left for bucking the usual message. It is this practice of cannibalizing their own for thinking outside the box that scares other liberal voices into submission rather than speaking up. If he isn’t careful, he could find himself becoming a man without a country, politically speaking. Although it took courage to jump into these waters, Van Jones’ biggest test of character lies ahead.
If people trapped in the Regressive left can summon even an ounce of the inner strength we saw in Carryn Owens, maybe our nation can begin to heal. Celebrities playing Twitter politics will continue to embarrass themselves and the majority of the nation, but just maybe that majority is getting ready to grow despite the hysteria. Police will continue to do our jobs, whether we have to swim upstream or not. We’re used to it by now. As for this cop, he’s one of the 7 in 10 Americans feeling more optimistic today.
T.B. Lefever is an OpsLens Contributor and active police officer in the Metro-Atlanta area. Throughout his career, Lefever has served as a SWAT Hostage Negotiator, a member of the Crime Suppression Unit, a School Resource Officer, and a Uniformed Patrol Officer. He has a BA in Criminal Justice and Sociology from Rutgers University.
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