Watch: It Gets Tense When Reporter Blasts Lightfoot Over Chicago Murder Rate

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

I don’t know whether to call the recent confrontation between a Newsmax reporter and embattled Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot a gory trainwreck or a beautiful sight to behold. Truth? It was a bit of both — and both parts were equally awesome. Either way, you can’t make it up — even though Lightfoot tried her damnedest to do so.

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As Fox 32 in Chicago reported, Newsmax reporter William Kelly took Lightfoot to task on Friday during a heated exchange over the city’s ongoing, record-setting murder rate. To call Chicago’s bloody Southside a veritable war zone would not be an exaggeration. As reported by the Sun-Times on Monday, 78 people were shot in the Windy City over the weekend — a third of them in four mass shootings.

(Memo to the Looney Tunes Left: none of those “mass shootings” were carried out with a pretend “assault rifle,” the dreaded AR-15. AKA by you clowns as a “weapon of war.”)

Seven of those people were killed, as the city reaches the halfway point of what could be one of its most violent years in decades. according to the Sun-Times. According to the latest available data, 300 people have been shot and killed in Chicago this year, with more than 1,500 shot and wounded.

When the Newsmax reporter pressed Lightfoot on the out-of-control murder rate, she told him he “had his facts wrong.” It went downhill from there. Here one exchange from the below video:

Reporter:

“What I think everybody knows, but you didn’t mention, is the reason why the hotels are empty; the reason why the storefronts are closed is because of fear of violent crime. A pregnant woman was shot at a hotel across the street from here last week at 4:00 in the afternoon.

“We had this horrific Juneteenth — 50-some shootings, a young Hispanic couple pulled from their car and shot execution-style. This video has gone viral. I don’t think we’ve had any arrests in this case, yet.

“A tourist came to Chicago and was stabbed in the back and murdered on Juneteenth … our police chief referred to the location of the shooting as a ‘homeless camp.’

“I was born and raised in Chicago. I always considered it to be the financial district of Chicago — not a homeless camp.

“So my question is, do you feel personally responsible for your rhetoric — your heated rhetoric is responsible for this violent crime in the city of Chicago?

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Lightfoot (looking like she just got hit by a bus) did what she always does (she’s not the Lone Democrat Ranger): deny and obfuscate — and attempt to discredit the source.

“I don’t know where you’re from. I know what magazine you’re from. And I know what your conservative viewpoints are. But on almost every question you asked, you had the facts wrong.”

Just one problem.

I transcribed the reporter’s comments and his singular question in their entirety. Moreover, the facts he presented to Lightfoot were correct. Period. Lightfoot continued.

“So here’s what I will say about the 15 questions you just asked. (Again, he asked one.) No one thinks that a single act of violence is ever acceptable, least of all me.

“The hotels are where they are. Here in Chicago — as well as across the country — because of economic shutdown — related to COVID-19. So [your] premise is fundamentally flawed and wrong.

“You can have your opinion on it — but I got the facts.”

Speechless? So was I. Almost. Then I remembered it was Lori Lightfoot.

The mayor then pivoted to: “What we’re here to celebrate is the reopening of our city — the great enthusiasm that our residents and our tourists have.”

Did I mention Chicago is experiencing its deadliest year in more than a decade?

According to the latest available data, 300 people have been shot and killed in Chicago this year, with more than 1,500 shot and wounded.

Yet? Incredulously, Lightfoot said just a week ago, per the Sun-Times:

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“We are seeing a downward trajectory, where other cities are continuing to see a climb.”

You can’t make it up; you don’t have to. Lori Lightfoot does it on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, the band plays on as the blood continues to run in the streets of Chicago — my old stomping grounds.

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