Billionaire activist George Soros wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal Sunday announcing his intention to continue dropping tens of millions of dollars in donations to get woke, “progressive” district attorneys elected in cities across the nation. He laughably claimed that such prosecutors are making the criminal justice system “more effective and just,” despite much evidence to the contrary, including skyrocketing crime and countless shattered lives. He writes:
Americans desperately need a more thoughtful discussion about our response to crime. People have had enough of the demagoguery and divisive partisan attacks that dominate the debate and obscure the issues.
The ninety-one-year-old, Hungarian-born financier continues, explaining that in his view the American justice system is unfair:
Yet our system is rife with injustices that make us all less safe. The idea that we need to choose between justice and safety is false. They reinforce each other: If people trust the justice system, it will work. And if the system works, public safety will improve. (Emphasis mine.)
There’s an obvious problem with the above sentence. People don’t trust the justice system under the prosecutors he supports, because they’ve been soft on crime and utterly uninterested in the rights of victims. If Soros witnessed a stabbing, he would probably rush to soothe the disturbed psyche of the attacker while leaving the victim bleeding out on the ground.
According to the NY Post, Soros has been quite generous:
The Capital Research Center reported in January of this year that Soros has given more than $29 million to left-wing district attorney candidates through a network of political action committees. Other incumbents who have benefited from the largesse include Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, Kim Foxx in Cook County, Ill., Kim Gardner in St. Louis, and Kim Ogg in Harris County, Texas.
Here’s a rogue’s gallery of those he’s sent money to through his web of PACs: Los Angeles DA George Gascon, former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin (recalled), Cook County Illinois State’s Prosecutor Kim Foxx of Jussie Smollett fame, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, and more. There are horror stories associated with each one, as we at RedState have reported:
- Gascon gave just five months probation to a drugged-out, paroled teen who mowed down a mother and baby in a stolen car;
- Two El Monte officers were shot and killed by a gang-member out on a Gascon-arranged plea deal;
- Alvin Bragg charged a bodega worker in Manhattan with murder after he defended himself in an attack, while the attacker’s girlfriend was not charged despite stabbing the employee three times;
- The Chicago Bears just announced they are moving from downtown’s Soldier Field because of the constant shootings; and,
- A veteran prosecutor in Kim Foxx’ office resigned with a scathing letter Friday, accusing the office of being “more concerned with political narratives and agendas than with victims and prosecuting violent crime.”
There are so many more stories of these prosecutors letting loose violent criminals and spitting in the face of victims that it would take up about five separate articles.
Yet Soros wants “justice.”
We need to invest more in preventing crime with strategies that work—deploying mental-health professionals in crisis situations, investing in youth job programs, and creating opportunities for education behind bars. This reduces the likelihood that those prisoners will commit new crimes after release.
That sounds all nice and “justice-y,” but how does releasing dangerous felons accomplish these goals?
In recent years, reform-minded prosecutors and other law-enforcement officials around the country have been coalescing around an agenda that promises to be more effective and just. This agenda includes prioritizing the resources of the criminal justice system to protect people against violent crime.
Yet another case of a Leftist claiming to deliver one thing while actually bringing about the exact opposite. Not only do these Soros prosecutors fail to prioritize violent crime and its victims, but they have also actively sought to drive up crime rates. The shoo-in for a Bond villain counters:
Some politicians and pundits have tried to blame recent spikes in crime on the policies of reform-minded prosecutors. The research I’ve seen says otherwise. The most rigorous academic study, analyzing data across 35 jurisdictions, shows no connection between the election of reform-minded prosecutors and local crime rates.
What an effective argument! But wait… what’s missing? The name of the research paper he’s supposedly citing, or even one statistic. In any case, I don’t need a research paper to know what I’m seeing—I have two eyes and a brain, and what I’m seeing is staggering crime and tragedy and it just so happens to be on a massive upswing since Defund the Police and woke prosecutors came into fashion. I don’t need to be a Rhodes scholar to figure out what’s going on.
Soros concludes with what sounds more like a threat than an offering of hope:
This is why I have supported the election (and more recently the re-election) of prosecutors who support reform. I have done it transparently, and I have no intention of stopping. The funds I provide enable sensible reform-minded candidates to receive a hearing from the public. Judging by the results, the public likes what it’s hearing.
No, George, the public does not like what’s hearing, and that is why San Franciscans recalled whacko DA Chesa Boudin and why voters are desperately trying to get rid of George Gascon. I’m also pretty sure that the dozens of people shot every weekend in Chicago don’t like what they’re seeing.
The American justice system shouldn’t be for sale to the highest bidder.