Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), an ally of President Trump, blamed George Soros on Fox News Wednesday for indirectly causing a recent rise in violence and property damage in some Democratic-run cities, claiming a slate of “progressive” district attorneys “overwhelmingly elected with George Soros’ money” were letting criminals run wild. (Soros funds a political action committee that has backed reformist DA candidates since 2016, with some success, but he is hardly the only financial backer, as Fox News reports.)Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner told Gingrich it wasn’t necessary to bring Soros into the discussion. Gingrich asked if mentioning Soros, a Jewish billionaire who survived Nazi occupation in his native Hungary, is now “verboten,” the German word for “forbidden.” Harris stared in silence for a long moment and changed the subject.> Newt Gingrich: “The number one problem in almost all the cities is George Soros-elected, left-wing, antipolice pro-criminal district attorneys…”> > Fox hos: “I’m not sure we need to bring George Soros into this.”> > Newt: “Okay… So, it’s verboten?”> > Long awkward silence. pic.twitter.com/tl4CgGcrzI> > — Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) September 16, 2020The FBI reported Tuesday that violent and property crime both dropped sharply in the first six months of 2020, with murders down 15 percent, rapes down 18 percent, and violent robbery down 7 percent versus a year earlier. Arson rose sharply, according to preliminary data, but violent crime overall dropped 5 percent in the Northeast, and by lesser amounts in the West and Midwest, AFP reports. Violent crime rose 2.5 percent in the South.More stories from theweek.com How a productivity phenomenon explains the unraveling of America How the Trump-Russia story was buried The conservatives who want to undo the Enlightenment
