Why Republicans Are Terrified of Nonexistent Crime

[justaprogressive]

Among the favorite pastimes of Republican men, two stand out: first, boasting about what strong, courageous, hypermasculine operators they are; and second, publicly melting down about how pants-pissingly terrified they are of American cities.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) is the latest in a long line of conservative men expressing delirious panic about an American city, in this case Washington, D.C. “I drive around in Washington, D.C., in my Jeep and, yes, I do drive myself. And I don’t buckle up,” he said on Fox News recently. “And the reason why I don’t buckle up, and people can say whatever they want to, they can raise their eyebrows at me, again, is because of carjacking.” Consider my eyebrow raised.

Before Mullin, there was Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy hyperventilating about almost nonexistent crime on the New York subway. And there was Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) claiming that he tells visitors to D.C. that “you need to be careful where you stay, you need to be careful where you walk, you shouldn’t be out after dark.” And, of course, there was Donald Trump calling various American cities Escape From New York–esque hellholes. “What I guess the mayor did, but whoever it was, they asked the numbers to be fudged so they would show less crime,” he said recently, denying police statistics about dramatically falling D.C. crime. “The fact is, it’s worse than it has ever been.”

This seems to be a core emotion of modern conservatism: wallowing in terror of largely imaginary dangers. But there is a very real project behind their trembling cowardice—the violent subjugation of liberal cities. Today, D.C. is the target. Trump has seized control of the D.C. police department, deployed FBI agents to wander around peaceful D.C. parks, and authorized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to send in National Guard troops.

https://prospect.org/justice/2025-08-15-why-republicans-are-terrified-of-nonexistent-crime/]

[MrWowWow]

1. Is there ANY actual proof?

Any actual proof that "Big Balls" was not just a pawn, and that it wasn't a fake beatdown? Sounds like cosplay to me. This photo could be AI generated or Photoshopped:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14990019/big-balls-attack-suspect-photo-washing

[Captain Zero]

2. The 2026 polling places are the goal

Keeping city voters intimidated and away from polls. They will probably kidnap some voters everywhere early in the morning on election day 2026. Hoping we lose and the captured press can say "low voter turnout".