Tipsheet

Striking Contrasts: Trump, Biden, and the Murder of Laken Riley

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  March 11, 2024 10:05 AM

Sarah and Rebecca covered some of these developments over the weekend, but I still can't quite believe the juxtaposition.  After 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley was murdered late last month on the University of Georgia's campus, allegedly by an illegal immigrant, the accused killer's rap sheet quickly came to light.  In addition to entering the country illegally, he had also been arrested and cited for multiple additional crimes, in two different states.  Thanks to 'sanctuary' policies, he was released.  Then, according to police, he bludgeoned this innocent young woman to death with such force that it disfigured her skull.  Reports of gang ties have also emerged.  This man should never have had the opportunity to commit this crime, for multiple reasons.  Ms. Riley was lethally failed by a series of immigration and "justice" policies, and the politicians who implemented them.  On Saturday, prior to his rally in the state, former President Trump visited with and consoled the victim's grieving family.  Then he paid tribute to her memory at his event while ripping into Biden's words and policies:

By contrast, the current president had to be heckled into even mentioning Laken Riley's name at all.  When he did, he botched it, twice calling her "Lincoln."  In doing so, he referred to the accused killer as an "illegal."  This immediately raised hackles within his own party, from critics who seemed far more offended by his use of that term than by what happened to Riley.  After a flurry of scolding, a reporter asked Biden if he regretted the word choice.  He declined to apologize, noting that 'technically' illegal immigrants aren't allowed to be in the country:

This is much more than a technicality, of course, but Biden had at least resisted left-wing pressure to backtrack.  Until he did, as Trump mentioned in the clip above, to angry boos from the crowd. A full, pathetic, weak rhetorical retreat on MSNBC:

In the clip, Biden also promises to never treat illegal immigrants with "disrespect" (which apparently entails using the term 'illegal'), explaining that they "built the country," and only suggesting that we need a more "orderly flow" at the border.  The man is incapable of standing up to his coalition's radicals, which is partly why his border policy is so disgracefully and historically catastrophic.  I summarized the dramatic dichotomy between Trump and Biden on this horrible story on Fox over the weekend, adding a point about the inaccuracy of Democrats' preferred descriptor of illegal immigrants:

Biden apparently thinks it's good politics to apologize for calling an illegal immigrant, who's under arrest for a brutal murder, 'illegal.'  Too 'disrespectful,' you see.  Meanwhile, here are some numbers from the latest ABC News poll, which shows Trump leading Biden by double digits on three of the four top issues.  The biggest gap?  Immigration and the border:

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I'll leave you with a few words from Laken Riley's distraught mother:

UPDATE - Unrecognizable Joe Biden, in several ways. Just watch.  Can you spot the "disrespect"?