Crime desk: Another Soros DA at Risk
Violent crime in Austin, Texas, is “nearly 40 percent higher” than the national average, with “all the major crime categories” up “substantially” since 2021, reports Joe Nocera at The Free Press. “Civic leaders and businesspeople in the city” see Soros-backed lefty DA Jose Garza to blame; his pro-crime policies include catch-and-release for sexually violent criminals. They’re backing ex-prosecutor Jeremy Sylestine in Tuesday’s primary. “Virtually all progressive prosecutors elected in 2020 are facing a backlash from citizens upset at their leniency towards criminals,” but “it’s more difficult to motivate moderate Democrats to go to the polls” than the hard left, which is what “Sylestine needs to do.” Yet “after three years of progressive policies, the city is ready for a return to law and order.”
War watch: Post-Hamas Gaza Plan Necessary
Last week’s deadly aid-convoy stampede again flags “the importance of developing a plan for postwar, post-Hamas Gaza,” notes Commentary’s Seth Mandel. But the “challenge of governing a Gaza in transition should not be underestimated” as “Hamas, rulers of the Strip before and during the war, had insinuated themselves into every nook and cranny of life in Gaza.” Another concern: “Iran’s attempts to disrupt peace and stability in the region and suppress authentic Palestinian self-determination.” So de-Hamasification “would be an ongoing process that Israel would, from a security standpoint, continue to oversee” alongside “a coalition of states such as the U.S., Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia,” with a “phasing out of the UN refugee agency’s participation, to be replaced by Palestinian civil-society groups.” Not easy, but “with security . . . can come true representative Palestinian governance and Palestinian-led economic institutions.”
Conservative: Sasse’s Blow to DEI Nonsense
New University of Florida President (and ex-Sen.) Ben Sasse “fired the school’s entire DEI staff and closed their office permanently” last Friday “in reaction to new regulations passed by the Florida Board of Education prohibiting public funding from going to DEI in state schools,” cheers National Review’s Jeffrey Blehar. DEI departments are “a component without which most schools would run more, not less, efficiently,” yet “the left will either be stunned when the University of Florida magically manages not to descend into Klan racism even without DEI” or “will pretend not to notice how completely unnecessary it turned out to be. Either way, it’s a fine day for any university president when he can cut costs . . . while also making his school a happier and more productive place.”
From the right: James’ ‘Desecration’ of the Law
“Whatever Donald Trump’s financial transgressions, they pale in comparison with Attorney General Letitia James’s desecration of the law in service of destroying a political opponent,” roars The Wall Street Journal’s Allysia Finley. After an appeals court’s refusal to stay a “legally dubious $454 million civil fraud judgment,” James is “threatening to seize” Trump’s assets, and he may have to sell or mortgage properties “in a fire sale.” Yet James isn’t seeking restitution for victims; “there are none.” “She’s seeking financial penalties” against Trump, which New York Dems “will spend on rewarding government unions and other political allies. This is the stuff of banana republics.” James “says punishing Trump is necessary to preserve the integrity” of the marketplace. But “she’s doing more damage” than Trump.
Election beat: A Convicted Trump Can Win
A key question this year, observe pollsters Douglas Schoen and Carly Cooperman at The Hill, is whether Trump “can win the general election if he is convicted of a federal crime.” Answer: “Yes, barring any legal obstacles Trump might face.” In their polling, Trump leads Biden, 47% to 45% — and if Trump’s convicted, “Biden only leads the presidential horserace by 1 point,” 45% to 44%. Despite disliking both, most of the electorate believes “that Trump did a good job in office and that his policies improved their lives, but say the opposite of Biden.” Trump’s leg-up is based on “the weaknesses of the current president” and that “most voters believe Trump improved their bottom line as president,” suggesting he has “a clear general election advantage.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board