Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy blasted President Joe Biden and Democrats on Wednesday over surging crime rates, arguing they are “more interested in Super Bowl guacamole.”
Kennedy shared the colorful comments with reporters during a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday addressing increased crime in America’s cities.
“There are a number of reasons for the increase in our crime rate, but I think part of it is our public leadership. We have many leaders in our communities today who believe, deep down, that, if a criminal commits a crime, it’s really not the criminal’s fault—it’s the fault of an unfair world,” Kennedy said.
“And many of these same people believe that punishment, prisons and cops make it worse. And I do not believe any free society can order a civilized culture without accepting the concept of free will and responsibility,” he added.
The senator also placed much of the blame on Biden for tolerating crime.
“I think President Biden has tolerated a lot of this. An uncharitable person might say that his silence in this case, or at least the administration’s more interested in Super Bowl guacamole than the crime rate,” Kennedy said.
“And the only way, it seems to me, that in America we’re going to address this problem is from the top-down. Top-up works too. President Biden needs to address this issue and the change in leadership of some of our public officials,” he argued.
The outspoken words against Biden and Democrats on crime were not Kennedy’s first time to focus on the matter. The senator recently addressed crime during an interview on Fox News’ “Primetime with Jesse Watters.”
Local Democrat leaders have decided that criminals no longer deserve to be punished- and now crime is surging. #JWP pic.twitter.com/sfi27MTXAn
— Jesse Watters Primetime (@jesseprimetime) February 2, 2022
“I would rather be forced to listen to O.J. jokes for the rest of eternity than to take the advice of President Biden or Governor Newsom. They are both nauseously woke,” Kennedy quipped to Watters.
“Wokers believe that no one should have to accept responsibility. They believe that it’s always someone else’s fault. And their motto is, ‘Hear no evil, see no evil, prosecute no evil,’” he added.
Kennedy’s focus on fighting increased crime comes less than a month after a new report by the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) revealed that homicides in major U.S. cities were 5% higher in 2021 over 2020 and 44% higher than in 2019.
“The study drew on crime data from 22 cities nationwide — including Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Memphis, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia — and found an additional 218 murders last year, compared to 2020. And while the overall increase in the homicide rate slowed, murder rates in St. Petersburg, Florida, (108%) and Austin (86%) skyrocketed, while Washington, D.C., (16%) also recorded a notable increase,” CBS News reported in January.
“Six of the 22 cities saw their murder rates drop, however, with sizeable dips in Seattle (25%) and Omaha (24%),” it added.
“The elevated rates of homicide and serious assaults require an urgent response from elected leaders,” the study’s co-author Richard Rosenfeld said in the report. “A year ago, we concluded our 2020 crime report by noting that with so many lives at stake, the time to act is now. That message is as vital today as it was then.”