The theme of Monday night at the Republican National Convention was "Make America Safe Again," but as Trevor Noah of The Daily Show pointed out, the speakers weren’t focused so much on safety solutions as they were on fearmongering.
Former actor Scott Baio told everyone that "all the things we hold dear are being attacked every single day," former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said terrorists were going to come kill us and our allies, and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn called the US "the last stand on earth" with "no place to escape to."
The reality, Noah says, is actually not this dramatic.
"I honestly don’t understand this fear," he said. "I really don’t, because you understand that this country is much safer now than it was 20 years ago? Crime is declining."
Vox’s Dara Lind concurs:
Violent crime has been declining since the early 1990s — and it dropped every year from 2008 to 2015. The US/Mexico border is more secure than it was when Obama became president, and there are fewer unauthorized immigrants living in the US — although since immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than American citizens, that shouldn’t matter to your safety anyway. And while global terror is deadlier than it was eight years ago, the threat it poses to Americans still pales compared with other things — like gun violence, for example.
Noah continued, emphasizing the lack of compassion for the Black Lives Matter campaign, especially from Darryl Glenn, El Paso County commissioner. Glenn said, "Safe neighborhoods happen when fathers and mothers are at home," to which Noah came back sharply with:
Black kids grow up to be criminals, yeah, because their moms are never home. Probably down at the club — or because they have to work two jobs and public transportation doesn’t go to their neighborhood and the legacy of redlining has kept them from living in better areas — but also, at the club! And where are the black fathers at? Where are the black fathers, huh? Too busy getting arrested, am I right? I mean, some of them from a broken taillight, trumped up charges, and driving while black, but still!
Noah ended on the topic of Melania Trump’s plagiarized speech, saying, "We should be encouraging her because if she feels comfortable stealing Michelle’s speeches and we make it normal, maybe Donald Trump will feel okay stealing Obama’s policies and then the country won’t be such a dangerous place."
