Trump Of Course Lying About Police Fatalities

Donald Trump accepts the Republican nomination for President of the United States of America on the final day of the Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH, USA, on July 21, 2016.The G... Donald Trump accepts the Republican nomination for President of the United States of America on the final day of the Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH, USA, on July 21, 2016.The GOP end their convention tonight with Donald Trump and Mike Pence representing the Republicans versus the Democratic Party ticket. Photo by Dennis Van Tine/Sipa USA MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

TL;DR … Trump is a lying fraud repeating an endless list of fraudulent horror stories and blood libels meant to induce fear and desire for revenge. The rising police death toll claim is another one of these …

Per the Trump lie factory, the Washington Post notes that these are the average number of police fatalities per year from all forms of attack broken down by presidency …

Reagan 101

Bush 90

Clinton 81

Bush 72

Obama 62

This trend of course has little if anything to do with President Obama. It is a clear trend going back decades and must at least partially map to declining crime rates over all, though it decade begin while crime rates were still rising.

Changing population and changing numbers of police over 36 years obviously make the trend a little murkier, though a growing society would likely lead to more deaths in absolute terms. In any case, point being Trump’s claims about a hunting season on police under the Obama presidency are another instance of demonstrable lies intended to incite fear and hunger for revenge. We’re basically to the TL;DR phase of the storyline. But there you are.

Latest Editors' Blog
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: