Kudlow: Americans won't stomach this crime wave

I spoke earlier and ran a panel for the Republican Governors Association, much more on that in a moment. I want to begin with a few very brief thoughts on this tragic, heartbreaking funeral for slain police officer Jason Rivera in St. Patrick's Cathedral today.

There were thousands of New York Police Department's finest. New York's finest. Thousands of cops lining the street. The cathedral, the beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral, was completely full and the widow spoke and relatives. Our hearts go out to them.  

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We give them condolences. This is a terrible story. It's a heartbreaking story. It's a tragic story. It's also a crime story, which we have covered on this show quite frequently. 

I want to just say the tragedy here is that unfortunately, the political leaders, such as they are, in the state of New York and the city of New York, continue with their attitude that they are more concerned about the criminals rather than the victims or the police.  

It's all symbolized by this crazy left-wing radical woke District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has no bail and no jail. You have a socialist city council who refuses to provide any help for the cops. You have a socialist legislature run by Democrats. The whole state is Democratic. 

The new Democratic governor replacing Cuomo is Gov. Kathy Hochul. She refuses to relent. She doesn't want to change the no-bail rule. She says she's going to speak to Alvin Bragg, the district attorney, but nothing has come out of that conversation yet.  

She has the authority to replace him. She has the authority to refund the New York City police. None of that has been done.  

This is this attitude, this woke attitude: Defund the police. Remember, we had that in 2020 and we had a lot of it earlier this past year or last year during the riots? People more worried about the criminals than they are about the victims or the families or the schools or the neighborhoods or the kids or the businesses.  

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The looting continues. The crime continues. The homicides continue across the country.  

Fifteen cities run by Democratic mayors, 15 cities across the country last year experienced record homicide rates. 

Young Mr. Rivera was eulogized today. He was promoted posthumously by the new police chief in New York City. That's a wonderful thing, but his life is gone, and his widow mentioned the district attorney and mentioned the problems, how sick everybody is of this crime wave, and why can't we do anything about it? It's a terrible story. It's a tragic story.  

The attitude, you know, this is not about race. This is not about color of your skin, ethnicity. This is about crime. Criminals need to be punished.  

Years ago with Giuliani, we put in broken windows, small crimes were punished, and eventually that led to diminished larger crimes.  

We have homeless problems. We have crime problems. We have gun problems. We have people that use the guns. They're the real problems.  

No bail and no jail has got to change in New York City.  

I've lived in New York City on and off for about 40 years. I've lived part of my time here in Washington, D.C., but this has got to change. This is the worst I've ever seen it.  

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So, our condolences to the late Rivera, young police officer Jason Rivera. Our condolences to his widow and his family. I hate reporting this story, but the blue line turned out for him, and I'm telling you folks, something has got to change and if it doesn't, then the political leaders, all these left-wing socialist Democrats, will be voted out of office because Americans won't stomach this crime wave.  

Now, let me turn to another subject. As I said, I spoke to the Republican Governors Association, my great pleasure. It's a terrific operation and one of the themes that I emphasized in my talk this morning was the theme of federalism and the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which is to say the powers of the states to set important policies.  

The old line was their "laboratories of democracy." While you have all these again, you got a left-wing White House, you got left wing Senate, you got left-wing House and of course, we're trying to save America and kill the bill, and we've had some success, but you've got these great Republican governors out there and, by the way, Democrats are welcome to do this.  

Instead of raising taxes, they are cutting taxes. If schools close, Gov. Ducey has a terrific reform on this. If schools close, then vouchers will be given with school choice so the kids can stay in school.  

States need to be open, not closed. On immigration, the open borders policy has to be changed. The immigration policy in general has to be changed. Social spending and entitlement states — that has to be changed.  

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Overregulation to control the economy, central planning and big government socialism has to be changed. 

I'm just saying that right now, the states can set a terrific example and from the bottom up, they can change policies in Washington, D.C., especially as the cavalry arise come November and we got ourselves a return to common sense governance if the GOP takes the Senate and the House. 

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow's opening commentary on the January 28, 2022, edition of "Kudlow."