WHAT POLITICAL PARTY DO THESE URBAN CENTERS HAVE IN COMMON? Violent Crime in U.S. Rises for Second Consecutive Year. “Violent crime, including homicides, rose for the second consecutive year in 2016, driven by increases in a few urban centers including Baltimore, Chicago and Las Vegas, according to F.B.I. data released Monday. Violent crimes increased nationally last year by 4.1 percent and homicides rose by 8.6 percent, one year after violence increased by 3.9 percent and homicides jumped by 10.8 percent. A total of 17,250 people were murdered in 2016, the F.B.I. said.”

Weird, because when Trump said something about violent crime getting worse all the best people ridiculed him as ignorant. Meanwhile, this piece in the Christian Science Monitor that I noted earlier asks why Americans feel unsafe when crime is still objectively pretty low (though the Brennan Center estimate here seems at odds with the FBI numbers above.)

Let me offer a hypothesis: People worry more about crime when they feel that the authorities don’t have their backs. When they feel confident that the government will make all reasonable efforts to keep them safe, that’s one thing. When they think that the political class has other priorities — or even sees them as expendable in the service of “social justice” goals — they get their backs up. I think it’s also a recognition that things can go from good to bad pretty fast.