One of President Donald Trump’s BIGGEST critics on the left just made a startling confession on live television.
Trump could turn into the “uniter-in-chief,” bringing Americans together AND working to make conditions better for the nation’s minorities.
Trump announced last week that he was backing a major effort at prison reform, reversing harsh penalties for nonviolent offenders and improving prison conditions.
And in what just might be the greatest irony of all, some of the most racist policies Trump is about to overturn were put into place in 1994 by President Bill Clinton, including the “three strikes” law that has unfairly locked some non-violent offenders away for decades.
“It rolls back some of the provisions of the Clinton crime law that disproportionately harmed [the] African-American community,” Trump announced at a White House event.
Many on the left were STUNNED.
President Barack Obama couldn’t pull this off, even when Democrats had control over both houses of Congress.
But Trump is doing it… and in a refreshing change of pace, he’s even getting some credit for it from the left.
CNN’s Van Jones has routinely slammed Trump on the air, and earlier this year called him out for “textbook racism” after his alleged comments on conditions in African countries.
But now, he seems to be having a change of heart:
Give the man his due: @realDonaldTrump is on his way to becoming the uniter-in-Chief on an issue that has divided America for generations. Congrats to everyone on both sides who fought for this. #FIRSTSTEPact #CriminalJusticeSummit #CriminalJusticeReform #justicereform #Trump https://t.co/G9kI1C3gXy
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) November 14, 2018
He was even more effusive on CNN.
“President Trump said, ‘Listen, if this is going to make the streets safer, if it’s going to give people a fairer chance, some of these forgotten men and women… let’s do something,’” Jones said on CNN this past week. “I think, you gotta give him some credit.”
Indeed, Trump is uniting both the left and the right, at least on this issue.
“We do need real reform,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said this past week. “There is unfairness in the system.”
As Hannity noted, there are many people in prison who deserve another chance, such as Alice Johnson who served more than 20 years for a first-time drug conviction before being pardoned by President Trump at the urging of Kim Kardashian.
What’s more, people emerging from prison have a high rate of recidivism, which Hannity said is a strong sign that prisons are failing to reform their inmates.
But that could change now, as the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, or “FIRST STEP Act” backed by the president will transform conditions.
Inmates will receive better care including treatment for drug addiction and placement closer to their families, giving them more incentives for better behavior and true reform.
And, most importantly of all, there will be more job training opportunities so when people do emerge after their sentence they will find an easier time getting work and joining the booming economy.
Free of drugs… and with real skills and a real job… there’s no need to return to crime.
Trump announced that these reforms “will make our communities safer and give former inmates a second chance at life after they have served their time.”
Jones has lobbied the president on this issue and was surprised to find on open ear.
“I think that we should actually be happy that there’s something that he might actually do that we would celebrate,” Jones said.
Yet no Democratic lawmakers attended Trump’s announcement this week despite the fact that this is something many on the left have been urging.
Maybe it’s because they all know that much of this mess was created by the racist policies of Bill Clinton.
“Wouldn’t it be ironic if it was Donald Trump who fixed the problems created by the ‘three strikes, you’re out’ rule passed by Bill Clinton,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Fox News. “Wouldn’t it be ironic if it was [Trump] and the Republican Congress. working with Democrats, that allowed thousands of African-American and Hispanic males a second chance for nonviolent offenses.”
It would be ironic indeed.
But not quite as stunning as liberals suddenly praising Trump!
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert, and is the author of “America’s Final Warning.”