What Happened to Backing the Blue?

I used to see a lot of signs in my neighborhood encouraging folks to “Back the Blue.” These signs, for reasons I never quite understood, were synonymous with words like “republican” and “conservative.” But why? I am a democrat and I absolutely back the blue. I respect law and order and value what our police departments do.

I haven’t seen a whole lot of “Back the Blue” signs lately… and I think that’s probably because our current GOP doesn’t have much respect for the law.

Now that the implementation of Project 2025 is officially underway, I’d like to reflect on a Facebook exchange I had back in November. Someone I follow had posted about Laken Riley, who was a 22-year-old nursing student who was murdered in broad daylight while on a run in Athens, Georgia. The man who killed Laken (whose name I won’t bother mentioning here because he’s not the one who should be remembered; Laken is the one who deserves to be remembered) was an illegal immigrant. 

What happened to Laken Riley is appalling. I think most people would agree with that statement. However, I don’t believe that electing a felon to office is going to make it safer for women anywhere, and even though I don’t often involve myself in Facebook debates, I will admit that I commented on this person’s post. I wrote:

With all due respect, [name of poster]... the man you voted for who wants to close borders has treated women very poorly. He doesn’t care about us. There is ample evidence to support this. What happened to Laken Riley is incredibly unjust, but it doesn’t prove that immigrants are more violent than anyone else. What it proves is that women continue to be disregarded and undervalued.

I received a few “likes” for this comment (keep in mind, the audience was primarily conservative) and one comment. The comment I received — and continue to think about multiple times per day ever since receiving it — is as follows:

With all do respect, this case proves that we have enough criminals (who are US citizens) & we don’t need more criminals being let in. The bottom line, is this wouldn’t have even happened if Trump won in 2020, because this criminal wouldn’t have been let into the country to begin with. Did Trump say some offensive things towards women in the past? Sure. Am I going to believe all these allegations made against him throughout the years because there are tons of wackos out there who want him out of the picture? No I’m not! Countless news outlets and “reporters” have proven to us time and time again that they do not care about truth and only care about pushing their own agenda. I care much more about his actions as president (keeping our country safer with less criminals and more world peace) than the “offensive” things he has said.

The opening sentence, complete with spelling error, jumps right into a sarcastic assault in which the person issuing the response appears to be really trying to put me in my place. But even more than that, I am blown away by her imagined logic that such a crime would have never occurred had trump been in office when Laken Riley was murdered. It’s an argument that lacks evidence, but does employ some classic propaganda techniques: name-calling, unstated assumption, and the big lie, just to name a few.

Here’s the thing though: our current president just released 1500 violent people from prison. These are people who killed police officers. These are people who stormed the Capitol. These are people who are very much capable of committing a crime every bit as heinous as Laken Riley’s perpetrator. So why is it acceptable to argue that Laken would still be alive right now if trump had won the 2020 election, but it’s not okay to assume that several people like Laken are not now in danger because of the 1500 rioters who are once again back on the streets?

I thought trump was supposed to be “keeping our country safer with less criminals and more world peace.”

It’s the lack of logic that’s maddening to me. 

Now, more than ever, we need to be backing the blue.