Chicago is the third-biggest city in the United States. Millions of people live there. For 150 years, it was the hub of America’s manufacturing economy. If any one place can credibly claim to have built this country, it’s Chicago. So we should care what happens there.
Unfortunately, what’s happening now in Chicago is a disaster. Thanks to the corruption of local officials, Chicago is bankrupt. The city is so deeply in debt — tens of billions of dollars in debt — that no economist believes it can ever pay its bills.
Taxpayers know this. They understand they will be punished for the crimes of their leaders. So they’re fleeing the city in record numbers. Those who’ve stayed behind now worry about getting killed.
TUCKER: CHICAGO'S LIGHTFOOT 'BOWING TO THE MOB,' HAS 'NO IDEA' WHAT SHE'S DOING'
Just this week so far, 106 people have been shot in Chicago. About an hour after Thursday night’s show, six people were shot in one drive-by shooting on the city’s South Side. Two of them died. And it’s not just happening in poor neighborhoods in Chicago.
Surveillance video of gunmen opening fire downtown shows how two people were hit. One was killed.
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Among others murdered in Chicago have been many children. Nathan Wallace’s 7-year-old daughter was one of them, killed when she was shot in the head last weekend when she was playing outside. Her father watched her die after she was hit. It’s awful.
Chicago wasn’t always like this. If you’re from there, you know. Chicago was a beautiful place. There are a lot of reasons it isn’t anymore. But near the top of the list is a woman called Lori Lightfoot. She’s the mayor.
Like a lot of big-city mayors, Lightfoot is incompetent. She has no idea what she’s doing. You wouldn’t let her plan your spring break. She’d send you to Wuhan by accident.
CHICAGO REMOVES COLUMBUS STATUE FROM GRANT PARK IN DEAD OF NIGHT
But what makes Lightfoot unusual is the remarkably aggressive way that she lies. Lightfoot says things that are so implausible, they could be part of a comedy routine. But she’s not joking. She expects you to believe every word of it.
The mayor blames Chicago’s violence on — of all people — Republicans.
“Why are we engaged in such violence?” Lightfoot asked at a news conference Wednesday. “Because there’s too many damn guns on our streets. And why is that so? Because the Republican leadership for way too long, including this president, refuses to even have a conversation about commonsense gun reform.”
See, it’s the Republicans’ fault that Chicago is now more dangerous than many Third World countries. That makes sense. The only problem is, there aren’t really any Republicans in Chicago.
Donald Trump got 12 percent of the vote there. Of the 50 aldermen on Chicago’s City Council right now, not a single one of them is a Republican — not one.
The mayor blames Chicago’s violence on — of all people — Republicans.
If you blamed Republicans for what’s happening in West Texas right now, or at The Villages, you might have a point. But in Chicago? It’s absurd.
Even Lori Lightfoot seems to know that excuse won’t work. It’s too ridiculous. So she’s moved on to a new excuse.
You know why Chicago is circling the drain right now? You know why all those children are getting murdered? Because of Christopher Columbus. Yes. An Italian navigator who never got within 1,000 miles of the Loop — and who, by the way, died more than 500 years ago.
Blame Columbus. It’s his fault. Friday morning, Lightfoot ordered the city to take down two Christopher Columbus statues, one in Little Italy and one in Grant Park. That’ll fix the problem. You can let your kids play outside now.
In case you’re wondering why Lightfoot chose to blame Christopher Columbus for her city’s decline — why not Marco Polo? Why not Vasco da Gama? — there’s a reason. Her constituents demanded it.
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No, not voters or taxpayers. There was never any groundswell of opposition to Christopher Columbus in Chicago. No, Lightfoot’s actual constituents wanted it. Her actual constituents are Antifa. Last week, the mob descended on Grand Park to rip down the Columbus statue.
Almost 50 police officers were injured in the ensuing riot by the Columbus protesters. Lori Lightfoot didn’t care. They’re not her voters. Lightfoot cares about her base — the looters and destroyers and angry Marxist rich kids with spray paint. When they tell her to act, she acts immediately.
The problem is, the mobs won’t stop with Columbus. He’s just the beginning. If they can tear down statues whenever they feel like it, how long before they tear down buildings and homes? How long before they tear down human beings? Probably not very long. Violence rarely remains symbolic. It accelerates, until good people rise to stop it.
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If Lori Lightfoot — and progressive mayors like her around the country, and there are many — are allowed to divert attention from their own failures by bowing to the mob and destroying public property, this will not end with Christopher Columbus. It will get much worse and it will get more dangerous.
You may not think tearing down a statue is a big deal — until you are the next designated Christopher Columbus.
Adapted from Tucker Carlson’s monologue on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on July 24, 2020.