Trump has exposed Democratic hypocrisy on prison reform

With so much media-manufactured controversy surrounding President Trump, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that our president possesses superpowers unlike any we have seen in his recent predecessors.

Trump can get Democrats to oppose virtually anything, even something they have supported for their entire careers, simply by coming out in favor of it.

One example was on display last week when the president defied conventional wisdom and party stereotypes by holding a Prison Reform Summit at the White House

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As reported by CNBC, the bill would “require the federal prison system to evaluate inmates after sentencing and provide services to help them avoid becoming repeat offenders, including drug treatment, job training and mental health counseling.”

Sound controversial? It shouldn’t. It should sound like common sense, but it doesn’t in a nation so divided that both sides are in the business of manufacturing argument.

Democrats were immediately outraged by this blatant attempt on the part of the president to take positive action on something for which they have long been in favor. Rounding up the usual suspects, Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-Texas) and Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and other Democrats issued a statement urging Democrats to oppose Trump ideas because his plan does not yet speak to sentencing guidelines and requirements.

For a group that is supposedly so concerned with the unfairness of the American prison system, it's some stunning hypocrisy. But it's an example of Trump employing his mind-control power to make Democrats oppose something they previously supported.

The idea that serious people would oppose something that is a major step in the right direction simply because it isn’t everything they can imagine illustrates and exposes their true agenda; they don’t want to solve a problem for their constituents, they just want to have the problem to run on in the next election.

thehill.com...

I am a huge proponent of prison reform. I find the conditions of these prisons disgusting, and the lack of programs to help prisoners who have served their time become productive members of society when they are released to be a horrible injustice.

Now does trumps bill have everything in it I think we need? Not at all. But its a great step in the right direction.

And so what do many democrats who claim to want prison reform do? They oppose it.

Not because there are things in the plan that they dont like, but just because the plan doesnt include everything they want.

This is absurd, and I agree with the author, this proves they are less interesting in helping real people and solving this situation than they are of having an issue to run on.

a reply to: Grambler

Trump should come out as "Pro Oxygen" so leftists would stop breathing.

a reply to: Grambler


Do you have link to the statement that the Democrats put out?

From I've read in your article, it seems that Democrats want more from the bill. They want it to address HOW people get to prison in the first place by addressing sentencing guidelines and requirements. For me, the school to prison pipeline is very disturbing.

originally posted by: Sookiechacha
a reply to: Grambler


Do you have link to the statement that the Democrats put out?

From I've read in your article, it seems that Democrats want more from the bill. They want it to address HOW people get to prison in the first place by addressing sentencing guidelines and requirements. For me, the school to prison pipeline is very disturbing.

Then I suggest addressing he schools. After all, that's the starting point for the pipeline...

a reply to: nwtrucker


Schools don't put kids in jail. Judges do. That's where the sentencing guidelines and requirements come in.

a reply to: Sookiechacha

“Make no mistake: the FIRST STEP Act is not meaningful criminal justice reform, and would be a step backward from our shared goal of ending America’s mass incarceration crisis. The bill faces bipartisan opposition in Congress and from the civil rights community and law enforcement leaders like former Attorney General Eric Holder and more than 30,000 federal prison guards because it is fundamentally flawed, and does not include sentencing reform. More than 70 civil rights groups agree that the bill would exclude too many incarcerated people, use risk assessments in an untested manner that would exacerbate racial and socioeconomic disparities, not provide real time off of sentences, and likely not reduce recidivism.

"These fundamental concerns are not simply that the FIRST STEP Act does not ‘go far enough,’ but instead that the recidivism reduction plan that is the core of the bill could actually worsen the situation in our federal prisons by creating discriminatory non-evidence-based policies. We urge our colleagues in the House to reject this bill and join us in pushing for the bipartisan Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act.”

www.durbin.senate.gov...

Utter garbage.

They cant support these reforms because some people may be left outr?

Utter insanity.

"I am against the plan to go get chocolate Ice cream, because I want chocolate and vanilla! Therefore I will fight against getting any ice cream at all!"

We need to get rid of some of the congressmen/congresswomen who are so polarized that they cannot see things like this as being beneficial for our society. I suppose these Democrats have relatives or friends kids in prison and they do not want them to be working or learning a trade.

originally posted by: odzeandennz
Did they stop paying you or you were on vacation for a bit...or were you freelancing on different right wing extremist website?


Life's good..

Hey man, I appreciate you following me.

But you are going to have to really up your game if you want to get recognized among the "I dont have anything to say so I will just smear this guy as a paid extremist" crowd.

originally posted by: Sookiechacha
a reply to: nwtrucker


Schools don't put kids in jail. Judges do. That's where the sentencing guidelines and requirements come in.

Your the one who cited a "School to prison pipeline", not me.

Best post of 2018.

originally posted by: nwtrucker

originally posted by: Sookiechacha
a reply to: nwtrucker


Schools don't put kids in jail. Judges do. That's where the sentencing guidelines and requirements come in.

Your the one who cited a "School to prison pipeline", not me.

Yeah, and I don't see it being addressed in this bill, among other things that have to do with HOW people get to prison in the first place, sentencing.

Sentencing has EVERYTHING to do with prison reform.

a reply to: Grambler

Correction:

The hypocrisy of Democrat POLITICIANS, has been exposed.

It means nothing for the beliefs and political leanings of anyone outside the ranks of professional politicians, says nothing about the intentions and aspirations of the regular voter.

Carry on.

Democrats keep shooting themselves in the foot, over and over again.

Trump has done more good in his first year than any President that I can think of, but no, they just cannot give any credit where credit is due and continue to show their real colors.

At this point, I don't know how anybody can still call themselves a democrat.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Grambler

Correction:

The hypocrisy of Democrat POLITICIANS, has been exposed.

It means nothing for the beliefs and political leanings of anyone outside the ranks of professional politicians, says nothing about the intentions and aspirations of the regular voter.

Carry on.

Normally I would come back at you,

But I admit you are correct.

In fact I will go one further.

Van Jones from CNN (of "trumps election was a whitelash" fame) attened and help put on this conference.

Despite all of the attacks levelked at him by trump supporters, he was willing to at least hold talks with trump for an issue he cares deeply about, and I applaud him for that!

So you are right, I think that many democratic voters do care about prison reform.

I hope to soemday run for congress as a republican, and I can assure you prison reform will be one of my big issues, and I dont care if that is a republican platform issue or nit.

I am tired at the disgusting, inhuman treatment of priosner.

For god sakes, even in gthe world of #metoo (which I think is to extreme on many levels) priosn rape (of both men and women) is such a common experience that we laugh about it.

This is disgusting.

No one, no matter what their crime, deserves that.

And factor in that the vast majority of inmates didnt committ horribly heinous crimes, and it becomes all the more pathetic that we allow this to happen.

These dmeocratic poiliticians, and republicans for that matter, who do not support reforms ought to be ashamed.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Grambler

Correction:

The hypocrisy of Democrat POLITICIANS, has been exposed.

It means nothing for the beliefs and political leanings of anyone outside the ranks of professional politicians, says nothing about the intentions and aspirations of the regular voter.

Carry on.

You are correct with that post, but some far left Democrats are driving their beliefs into a frenzy.

The majority of Democratic congressmen from states other than California, New York, Illinois and a few others are able to comprehend things pretty decently. But they are in an of a kind relationship with these congressmen who have lost their ability to see both sides of issues and compromise. We got some problems in our government lately. There are some Far right Republican congressmen that are also a problem, but not nearly as many as there are problematic Democrats.

a reply to: Grambler
Thanks for posting the actual Democrat response. It seems in reality the Democrats wanted better prison reform than Trump was willing to offer, but somehow you’ve spun that into Trump exposing Democrat hypocrisy.

I think you’d make a great republican politician.

originally posted by: underwerks
a reply to: Grambler
Thanks for posting the actual Democrat response. It seems in reality the Democrats wanted better prison reform than Trump was willing to offer, but somehow you’ve spun that into Trump exposing Democrat hypocrisy.

I think you’d make a great republican politician.

Yes they wanted more, so they are against things they want.

It is hypocrisy.

If trump says "I want Obamacare rolled back and I want abortion made illegal!"

And the democrats say "Ok we will roll back Obamacare"

It would be hypocritical nonsense for Trump to say "I refuse to accept your rollback of Obamacrae, because it doesnt give me everything I want!"

It would be clear at that point that Trump wanted to play politics more than he cared about helping people from rolling back Obama care.

I am 52 and when I was young they did not even call them Prisons !
They called them reform centers and if you went in you HAD to take classes You had to some kind of JOB training YOU COULD save money wile in prison as they payed a wage for work in the system ( not much money but one guy managed to save up over 20,000 $ .

Then when relised they just did NOT dump you on the streets homeless . They made sure you had a place to go and even lined up jobs for you and if nessery would even help you get into a halfway house were you couldlive untill you made enough money to get your own place .

The system was not perfect and some slipped through and of course some re-offended BUT people going back in was Minim .

Now here they just drop people right out side the sheriffs station if its cold hot raining and you have no ride or place to go and of course no money you may as well go accross the street grad a candy bar walk out and site wate for the cops Or starve .

Trump could come out and say minimum wage is $20/hr and Democrats would complain he didn't make it $21/hr.

He could say open border with Mexico and Democrats will then say he is leaving out other countries.

Trump cuts taxes, then Democrats will cry about who got the bigger cut.

Trump could raise taxes and they'd complain that taxes are being raised.

American politics has gotten to the point where you can't let the other side gain any yardage even if it is in your own best interest. Any compromise is viewed as a weakness even on issues that your side supposedly agrees with...