Trump implores GOP to focus on crime as midterms near: 'People are afraid to walk outside'

Former President Donald Trump is imploring Republicans to focus relentlessly in the final weeks of the midterm elections on solving America's crime scourge, saying the growing fear of simply going out on the streets could drive historic numbers of Hispanics and blacks to the GOP in November.

Trump, whose 2016 election fundamentally transformed the base of the Republican Party, said Democrats' embrace of open borders, no-cash bail and defunding police during the Biden years has opened a door to major electoral gains among urban and minority populations worn out by rising assaults, murders, home invasions, carjacking and smash-and grab robberies in their neighborhoods.  

"Nobody can live like that," Trump said during an exclusive interview with the "Just the News, No Noise" television show. "People are afraid to walk outside to buy a loaf of bread. And we have to change that."  

While pundits have suggested the economy is the driving force in the midterms, Trump said his instinct is that crime is a more important issue, particularly with voters considering giving Republicans a first-time look.

"It's very interesting, when you talk about the tremendous Hispanic population that's come in, the African-American population, they want to see no crime, because you know, they're the biggest victims in the truest sense of the word," the former president said. "They want no crime, and they want borders."

When asked which issue would be foremost on Americans' minds when they pull the lever on voting machines Nov. 8, Trump didn't hesitate.

"Well, I think they're going to start by asking who's going to solve crime," he said. "And that's Republicans, because it really is going to be who's going to solve crime. And the second question — some people think it's the first, but I think it's maybe the second — is inflation, because inflation is absolutely killing the American family. It's killing business. It's killing everybody."

Trump's advice aligns closely with House Republicans and their leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who recently released a detailed policy agenda for voters called the Commitment to America that makes crime-fighting a primary focus.

In a wide-ranging interview with Just the News and Real America's Voice, Trump covered many policy prescriptions, declaring:

• It is time for federal agencies to get out of the business of pressuring Big Tech to censor Americans' opinions and time for the FBI to make reforms to eliminate politics from its decision-making.
• States should return to paper ballots and limit absentee voting to only those who need it.
• Pennsylvania voters will break Republican Mehmet Oz's way in the final days of the U.S. Senate election because they will see during the lone debate that Democrat John Fetterman has not recovered from a stroke suffered earlier this year. "Oz is a very good man who wants to debate, and Fetterman is actually somebody that always got a lot of votes, but now he's not the same person," Trump said.
• The U.S. should ramp up oil production to ease inflation at home and lower oil prices abroad, stripping Russian President Vladimir Putin's war machine of billions of dollars and making Russia more amenable to a peace deal after its invasion of Ukraine.
• The Biden administration's push for widespread adoption of electric vehicles before the U.S. power grid is updated or adequate rare earth metals for batteries are secure was a "Chinese dream" that puts Americans at a disadvantage. "Everything's located in China ... they need to make that battery just the way they want. It's located in China or areas like the Congo that it sounds to me like China controls the Congo, because they're smart." he said.

Trump said tapping America's vast gas and oil resources was essential for gaining an upper hand against adversaries like Russia and China and easing Americans' extensive pain from inflation that has rocked the country as a result of Biden's policies.

"We have all this liquid gold under our feet, and they don't want to use it," he said. "So it's very sad."

Trump said Americans are crying out for political leaders who put common sense ahead of party loyalty or ideology to solve problems like food shortages, energy, inflation, illegal immigration and crime.

"Things are so foolish, so stupid right now," he said. "And you know, the American people have a lot of common sense. When people say 'You conservative?' I say, 'No I'm a common sense person.' You can call it conservative or call me a radical liberal. I don't care. It's called common sense.

Trump identified the agenda he says average Americans tell him they want Washington to impose. "We want borders," he said. "We want a strong military, we want great education. We want low interest rates, as low as we can." 

Trump said part of that common sense was restoring support for police and prosecutors who want to enforce law and order.

Under Democrats and liberal prosecutors right now, "if [police] do it, they're gonna lose their pension," he said. "They're gonna lose their job. They're gonna lose their family. You have to give authority back to the police. They know how to stop this stuff.

"You have the individuals just beating up people, coming out of nowhere and whacking somebody in the back of the head with a bat. I've been watching the news for a long time. I've never seen anything like what's going on. Now, this is like, this was not civilization anymore. So I do believe that it will be very acceptable to do what you have to do to get the country back on track."