Let's talk about Trump's fictional framing of Chicago.... - Belle of the Ranch

[TexasTowelie]

Well, howdy there Internet people. It's Belle again. So, today we're going to talk about Trump's fictional framing of Chicago.

We've talked on the channel numerous times about how the perception of major cities is off when it comes to stats. And that perception is mainly skewed by top 10 lists. When you see a top 10 news list, it's important to remember what they're actually listing.

Most lists clearly define what they're talking about, but you have to actually pay attention. Sometimes it's obvious. If the list is top 10 largest cities, you know it's measuring the size of the city. But what if it's top 10 crime ridden cities? It becomes really important to know what they count as a city. Most lists of this sort actually only include major cities. So people end up shocked when they discover Jackson, Mississippi has a higher murder rate than most of the cities you associate with high crime.

In 2024, you were more likely to be shot in Selma, Alabama or Laurenberg, North Carolina than you were in Chicago. and that on a per capita basis, a lot of rural areas are worse than the cities that get fear-mongered about. In fact, last year the US county with the highest per capita firearm homicide rate was Holmes County, Mississippi, a completely rural county.

Trump is about to get a public lesson in the fact that public perception is not the same as reality. Trump has called Chicago a war zone and just a few months ago he called it a killing field. He threatened federal and military intervention. His fictional depiction of Chicago comes from high-profile news stories, not reality. Recently, Trump suggested the city would be gone without the presence of National Guard troops as he was withdrawing them after repeated court losses. It's worth noting that because of his court losses, the National Guard troops weren't deployed to the streets in Chicago.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called out Trump's framing of events by saying, "Donald Trump's lying again. He lost in court when Illinois stood up against his attempt to militarize American cities with the National Guard. Now Trump is forced to stand down."

Well, it turns out that while most of us knew Trump's depiction of Chicago was false and the byproduct of that weird phenomenon where some men become irrationally afraid of major cities because of news coverage. We probably didn't know how false the depiction was. It turns out Chicago had the lowest number of murders in years, decades really. 1965, the lowest number of murders since 1965. It was an almost 30% decline from last year, from 587 in 2024 to 416 in 2025. There are going to be a lot of small towns and medium-sized cities with higher rates than Chicago this year. I wonder if Trump will call them war zones and deploy the National Guard?

Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.