Donald Trump claims Washington, D.C., needs the National Guard to get crime under control. Every time he says it, the same argument flares up: who's to blame for crime in America's cities?

Progressive commentator Ed Krassenstein argued online that crime is really a red state problem, pointing to higher murder rates in Republican states. Conservative commentator Carmine Sabia, a friend of mine, shot back that Democratic mayors are responsible since they run most of the big cities.

They're both wrong. And this is exactly the problem with the way we talk about crime in America. Everyone wants to use it as a political football.

The truth is much simpler, and much harder: crime doesn't follow party lines. It follows poverty.

The federal government's own numbers prove it. In 2023, the

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