Democratic officials across the nation denounced President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy federal law enforcement to crime-ridden cities, branding it a “fascist takeover.” Yet what they fail to recognize is that their own inability to confront rising crime is precisely what created the opening for federal intervention in the first place.

Crime data makes clear that cities with lax policing, soft-on-crime policies, and officials willing to tolerate lawlessness consistently suffer crime rates far above the national average — providing the very justification for federal authorities to step in.