Trey Gowdy Blasts Major City Mayors for Enabling a 'Culture of Lawlessness'

AP featured image — Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., looks to House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., as he speaks in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018. This is Speaker Ryan’s farewell address. Outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan is bemoaning America’s “broken politics” in a farewell speech in which he calls Washington’s failure to overhaul costly federal benefit programs “our greatest unfinished business.” (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

On Monday, Fox News contributor and erstwhile South Carolina Representative Trey Gowdy (R) guested on FNC’s The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino to talk about the last couple days’ madness in America.

Trey pointed out that some Democrats had blamed federal law enforcement officers’ presence for stoking the flames of turmoil in Oregon. But if they were the cause, why was there a fire this weekend following their exit?

“In Portland, it [was] the President’s federal law enforcement [cited as escalating the violence]. They are gone, but you still have the anarchy.”

And if you haven’t heard, in the Windy City, people looted like it was going out of style :

“In Chicago, you have an officer-involved shooting that appears to be a justified shooting in self-defense, and somehow these looters and rioters draw a causal connection that, ‘We have a good shoot over here, so let’s go break in unrelated businesses.'”

Here’s more about that shooting from Fox News:

[P]olice responded to a report of a man with a gun in the city’s Englewood neighborhood. While being pursued by police, the man, who was on foot, “turned and fired shots” at officers before being struck himself and taken to a local hospital, Deputy Chief Delonda Tally told Fox32 Chicago.

A crowd that had gathered at the scene then faced off against police and started hurling objects at officers after getting agitated over a false rumor that the suspect – who is 20-years-old – was a child, investigators add. Brown says the suspect previously has been arrested four times for charges including burglary, child endangerment and domestic battery.

Fast forward to chaos.

The Chicago Tribune reported that it observed people carrying shopping bags full of merchandise in the areas where the looting was happening and at least one U-Haul van was seen pulling up.

Looting at family-owned Paul Young jewelers at Dearborn and Randolph. The only thing left is a wall of family photos. @WBBMNewsradio pic.twitter.com/vP5MFLUYAc

— Cisco Cotto (@CiscoCotto) August 10, 2020

For a further view into Chi-Town’s shenanigans, see my coverage of shockingly shameless shopping here.

As reported by RedState’s Nick Arama, during a Monday press conference, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot condemned the recent riotous events:

“[A]s a result of what happened last night, there have to be consequences. We’ve got teams of people that are aggressively out there identifying the people responsible, looking at the (license) plates, and we’re gonna bring them to justice. But when we do and we do make those arrests, our expectation is that this is going to be treated with the level of seriousness that it should be, period.”

Some would say the city hasn’t exactly cracked down on problems over the last few months.

Count Trey among ’em:

“Lori Lightfoot may think she was clear in her most recent statement, but…there’s been a lot of equivocation over the last three or four months from the leaders of these major cities. They’ve been sending mixed messages at best.”

Will those who ransacked Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, Rush Street, Oak Street, and Loop shopping areas be brought to justice?

Former federal prosecutor Trey would like to think Yes, and that starts with an obvious step:

“The best prosecutor in the world won’t win a case if there is not an arrest. There ain’t a prosecutor in the world that can win a case without arrest and without evidence. That is mainly what I need — make the dadgum arrest.”

“Ain’t” and “dadgum” in one single answer — nicely done, Gowdy.

Back to the end of civilization — Trey’s got a label for what’s happening all over the country, what’s been allowed and therefore encouraged by officials in major cities:

“When you listen to the mayors and you listen to these alleged leaders, it’s hard to tell the difference between the looters and the rioters and the way they talk about cops.”

Here it goes:

“Look, I know people get mad when I say there is a culture of lawlessness. But there is. They just have to get mad. There is a culture of lawlessness building in this country…”

And what’s the law? Or, at least, what was it? Trey thinks he knows: