Two apparently unconnected issues that top the headline news endanger Democrats’ election hopes. I say “apparently” because although the events are taking place in different countries, both are tied indissolubly to the Left and to the party in power in Washington. I refer to surging violent crime rates in the United States and to popular protests against socialist tyranny in Cuba.

Official 2020 crime figures are not out, but preliminary estimates are that there were 25% more killings last year than in 2019 and that the rate has accelerated in 2021. Media outlets that run interference for President Joe Biden note that the murder rate is still only half what it was at its 1980 peak, but this muddying of a problem with anodyne historical context cannot obscure the salient fact that the trajectory is sharply upward.