When it comes to curbing crime, liberals and much of the mainstream media occupy an "alternative" universe that has little basis in reality, Dan Bongino said Wednesday on "Fox News Primetime."
Bongino was responding to the latest Fox News poll which reported that 73% of participants believe crime has spiked in light of nationwide calls to defund the police. More than 7 in 10 voters think crime is on the rise nationally amid a backdrop of escalating crime rates in major American cities and FBI warnings for local law enforcement to prepare for increases over the summer.
The poll suggests that most people have trust in law enforcement, but the findings contradict the left-wing media narrative, Bongino said.
FOX NEWS POLL: 73% OF VOTERS THINK CRIME IS ON THE RISE IN US
"What happened after the lockdowns is you saw street robberies and other things go down because there was nobody on the street. Which makes the increase in shootings and homicides even more unbelievable when you think about it. Right? But the real question here is why? Why -- what's behind this? Why do liberals live in an alternate reality?" Bongino, who recently took over the timeslot formerly held by the late conservative radio pioneer Rush Limbaugh, asked.
" You live on a planet where taking money away from the police, firing police officers, attacking police officers, and making them the object of your scorn somehow leads to better public safety."
"It's a serious question. I know liberals [say] ‘oh my gosh why are you always yelling at us all the time?’ Because you live on a planet no one else lives on. You live on a planet where taking money away from the police, firing police officers, attacking police officers, and making them the object of your scorn somehow leads to better public safety. I just want you to know no sane person lives in that world," he continued, " But you do. And the question…is why? Why do they believe that?"
The 12 year veteran of the Secret Service said the blames lies at the feet of left-wing reporters who have been "polluting the American media space for way too long."
FOX NEWS POLL: MAJORITY OF VOTERS OPPOSE REDUCING POLICE FUNDING
"They told people police are randomly hunting down Black men and assassinating them midday. And then liberals who sucked it up and believed it said ‘police are public enemy number one we better damn get rid of them.’ Now what is happening? People are dying," Bongino warned.
"The media is destroying the country and they are doing it deliberately."
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Bongino acknowledged that police require oversight "like everyone else. No good cop is going to say otherwise," he argued. "But, also, you have to enforce the law."
"You have to have effective policing where they enforce the law. If you don't have that you have chaos…and that's exactly what liberals and their media allies wanted and that's exactly what they're getting now."