Day 57: Trump Seeks to Gut Funding for NYC Counterterrorism Measures
Terrorists have long been infatuated with attacking New York City. The financial center of the United States and one of the world’s great cities, NYC has staved off — and, yes, suffered — numerous attacks over the years.
Counterterrorism measures are more critical there than virtually any other city around the world. Donald Trump knows this, having lived there for his entire life. But, Trump’s recent budget proposal seems to ignore these facts.
The effects of the budget would be devastating.
Police say the funding cuts would hit everything from intelligence analysis to active-shooter training. The blunt assessment was delivered by the top law enforcement officer in Trump’s hometown, who leads an agency tasked with defending the city against terrorism — and, more recently, protecting Trump Tower since it became a de facto “White House north” while first lady Melania Trump and her son, Barron, are living there.
“Under the president’s proposal, nearly all federal funding to the NYPD would be eradicated,” James P. O’Neill, the New York City police commissioner, said at a briefing Thursday afternoon. “This funding is absolutely critical. It is the backbone of our entire counter-terrorism apparatus.”
The Trump administration has defended its budget cuts as necessary and say they follow through on the president’s messaging throughout the campaign. But O’Neill’s criticism appears to undercut two pillars of Trump’s candidacy and the early days of his presidency, as Trump has portrayed himself as a defender of law and order and a strong protector of national security.
The hypocrisy of running primarily on an “increased national security” platform and using that as justification for everything from travel bans to border walls when in power, but simultaneously stripping funding aimed at protecting terrorists’ No. 1 target is woefully negligent.
The funding — which last year was around $178 million — is crucial to New York’s intelligence analyst program, as well as active-shooter training. Other areas may be forced to be cut as well.
Mayor Bill de Blasio did not mince words.
Neither did the New York Daily News.
The president is a man who claims to believe in national security but wants to help open the gate to one of the world’s most targeted cities.
In unrelated news, guarding Trump Tower is still costing hundreds of thousands of dollars every day.
57 days in, 1405 to go
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