What did Donald Trump do today?

He lied about crime in general and in Minneapolis specifically.

In an interview with NBC News today, Trump once again claimed that crime rates had dropped because of his deployment of military and paramilitary forces into American cities, including in Minneapolis. 

In reality, Minneapolis's rates of violent crime haven't changed much at all since Trump began his orchestrated ICE/CBP terror campaign against the city, except that federal agents are responsible for two-thirds of the homicides it's seen so far in 2026.

More generally, violent crime has been steadily dropping for decades. The causes of and solutions to those crimes are local, and who is president on any given day doesn't usually have much to do with how likely someone is to commit a murder or an armed robbery. 

 

That doesn't mean federal policies have no effect, though. When people have better access to mental health care, domestic violence interventions, criminal rehabilitation, general health care, child care, after-school programs, food assistance, community-based policing, job training, drug rehabilitation, suicide prevention programs, and lead abatement, it lowers violent crime rates in the long run.

Trump has zeroed out or deeply cut federal spending on all of those things since returning to office. 

Why does this matter?

• Presidents with real accomplishments don't need to lie about them. 

• Anyone who can't see that cutting programs that help Americans will hurt Americans is too dumb to be president.