America's mayor, Rudy Giuliani, excoriated Democrat leadership that has ushered in a new era of crime and chaos in our cities with an emotional speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention on Thursday.
"New York City, once described as America’s Crime Capital, had become by the mid-1990s America’s safest large city," Giuliani said. "Now today, my city is in shock."
Giuliani served as the city's mayor from 1994 until 2001. Under his watch, crime rates fell precipitously as he bolstered the NYPD and began cracking down on street-level crimes that had long been ignored. In only a few years, New York City went from being one of the most dangerous in the nation to one of the safest.
Those times have passed, however, and a new era of crime has been ushered in.
"Murders, shootings, and violent crime are increasing at percentages unheard of in the past," Giuliani said. "We are seeing the return of rioting and looting."
"During riots, this Democrat Mayor [Bill de Blasio] like others has often prevented the Police from making arrests," he said, further slamming New York prosecutors like Cy Vance who have vowed not to prosecute those arrested during civil unrest.
"Even when arrests are made, liberal, progressive DAs release the rioters so as not to disrupt the rioting. New Yorkers wonder how did we get overwhelmed by crime so quickly and decline so fast?"
Giuliani said that following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, there was a "brief shining moment" in which both the left and right could have come together to condemn police brutality, as the nation said in one voice that what happened to Floyd was wrong. But that unity, Giuliani said, wasn't part of the far-left agenda.
"They had a president to beat and a country to destroy, and although an agreement on action against police brutality would be very valuable for the country, it would also make President Trump appear to be an effective leader. They could have none of that," he said.
"So, Black Lives Matter and Antifa sprang into action and in a flash hijacked the protests into vicious, brutal riots." But it wasn't the rioting that caused Giulani's voice to tremble in sorrow.
"The worst of it was the slaughter of innocent young people with their whole lives ahead of them," Giuliani said. "The murder of 4-year old LeGend Taliferro in Kansas City shocked the nation but not Black Lives Matter or their many Democrat supporters."
"17-Year-Old Basketball Star Brandon Hendricks was killed in the Bronx just days after graduating High School and on his way to St. Johns to play basketball. He passed with only a brief mention."
"One-year-old Davell Gardner, Jr. was shot and killed in a stroller at a cook-out in Brooklyn and it caused no outrage."
"For President Trump, and for us Republicans, all Black Lives Matter and the lives of LaGend, Brandon, and Davell matter to us," Giuliani said. "All lives matter to us."
Former NYC Mayor @RudyGiuliani with a definitive statement during his speech at the RNC:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 28, 2020
"For President @realDonaldTrump and us Republicans, all Black lives matter." pic.twitter.com/gxBGcyBYJ9
Giuliani praised the president for his accomplishments in fighting crime, restoring law and order, and vowing to defend American cities.
"In critical times in our history, America is always blessed with the right person to handle the crisis," he said. "Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Reagan were perfect for the challenges they faced and brought our nation through."
"Mr. President, Make our nation safe again!"