by Eric Lendrum
On Monday, far-left billionaire George Soros declared that he would continue to financially support district attorneys and other candidates who are explicitly soft on crime, falsely claiming that such candidates will make the criminal justice system “more effective and just.”
The New York Post reports that the 91-year-old Soros, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, stated that “I have no intention of stopping” his support for prosecutors who deliberately reduce criminal penalties and refuse to enforce certain laws. Soros pointed to such examples as Alvin Bragg, the new District Attorney for Manhattan, whom Soros falsely called “popular” and “effective.”
“This agenda includes prioritizing the resources of the criminal-justice system to protect people against violent crime. It urges that we treat drug addiction as a disease, not a crime. And it seeks to end the criminalization of poverty and mental illness,” Soros continued.
“The goal is not defunding the police but restoring trust between the police and the policed, a partnership that fosters the solving of crimes,” he added.
Soros’ efforts to install far-left DAs across the country have been ongoing for many years, but have finally began to face political resistance. In a major upset, San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin, who was backed by Soros, was overwhelmingly voted out of office in a recall election, after the city saw a drastic rise in violent crime and drug use in broad daylight. Another Soros-backed DA, George Gascon in Los Angeles, is facing his own recall in November.
Bragg has had his share of controversies as well since taking office. His office oversaw the immediate release from jail of a black teenager who violently assaulted a police officer in a subway station, even though the assailant already had an extensive criminal record. Another case that drew widespread condemnation was an incident in a Bodega store where the 61-year-old store owner, Jose Alba, ultimately killed a criminal who assaulted him first; Bragg’s office initially charged Alba with murder in what was clearly a case of self-defense, before ultimately dropping the charges due to backlash.
But in his op-ed, Soros incorrectly attributed the rise in crime rates to “a disturbing rise in mental illness among young people due to the isolation imposed by Covid lockdowns, a pullback in policing in the wake of public criminal-justice reform protests, and increases in gun trafficking.”
“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,” he continued. “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.”
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Eric Lendrum graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was the Secretary of the College Republicans and the founding chairman of the school’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter. He has interned for Young America’s Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, and the White House, and has worked for numerous campaigns including the 2018 re-election of Congressman Devin Nunes (CA-22). He is currently a co-host of The Right Take podcast.
Photo “George Soros” by Niccolò Caranti. CC BY-SA 3.0.
