Trump blames Democrats for Charlotte slaying, but the real fault is elsewhere | Opinion

Republican leaders know their party has little chance of defeating former Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina’s 2026 U.S. Senate race, so they’re turning to fear mongering early.

They’re trying to make Decarlos Brown into their very own Willie Horton.

Horton was the subject of a devastating 1988 political ad attacking the Democratic presidential nominee, then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. Horton, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence, was furloughed from prison for a weekend thanks to Dukakis’ refusal to sign a bill that would have barred those with life sentences from the furlough program.

While free, Horton stabbed a Maryland man and raped his fiancée. Supporters of the GOP nominee, Vice President George H.W. Bush, produced an ad featuring Horton’s mugshot and accusing Dukakis of being soft on crime. Dukakis’ lead in the polls disappeared and Bush won easily.

Now comes Decarlos Brown, 34, a Black man with a long criminal record and a reported history of mental illness. He is charged with fatally stabbing Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, on the Charlotte light rail line. A video of the Aug. 22 attack was captured by security cameras.

Republicans are exploiting the tragedy by trying to blame it on Democrats, including Cooper. The blame is coming from the top in a social media post by President Donald Trump in support of former national Republican Party co-chair and GOP Senate candidate Michael Whatley.

“[T]he blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer’s knife, and now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail, including Former Disgraced Governor and ‘Wannabe Senator’ Roy Cooper …VOTE FOR MICHAEL WHATLEY FOR UNITED STATES SENATE, HE WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!”

The White House added a press release blaming the killing on “North Carolina’s Democrat politicians, prosecutors, and judges prioritizing woke agendas that fail to protect their citizens.”

On Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department filed federal charges against Brown and could seek the death penalty.

If the horrible event could somehow be made worse, Trump is doing so by using a slain woman as a political prop.

It’s true that Brown fell through the cracks of the criminal justice system and the actions of police and Charlotte officials need review. But what led to this killing is less about leniency in the criminal justice system and much more about neglect of the mental health system.

It’s a long stretch for Republicans to link this back to Cooper. As the state attorney general for 16 years, Cooper was the state’s top law enforcement officer and considered, especially by Democratic standards, a tough one. But he also improved mental health care.

Cooper’s success in expanding Medicaid to more than 600,000 North Carolinians gave more people access to mental health services. Coming out of the pandemic, he proposed a $1 billion plan to address North Carolina’s mental health and substance use crisis.

Meanwhile, Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” will lead to cuts in Medicaid coverage, and his administration has discontinued $1 billion in grants for improving mental health care in schools.

Trump is emphasizing crime fighting by sending National Guard troops into Washington, D.C., and likely other cities.

But what works is not getting tough on crime with federal troops, but getting smart about preventing it.

Republicans dismiss criminal justice reforms adopted after George Floyd’s killing by police in Minneapolis, but the changes, such as having social workers respond to people who are having a mental health crisis, are effective. Raleigh, for instance, is seeing results from an alternative response program that combines social workers and police officers.

Brown, whose mother said has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was arrested in January after he repeatedly called 911 complaining that a “man-made material” was controlling his body. At that point, he should have been required to undergo mental health treatment. Instead, he was released without bail.

One reason Brown wasn’t under care is the lack of mental health resources. Amy Brundle, a spokesperson for NAMI NC, a mental health advocacy organization, said the state’s mental health care system “is not meeting demand. It’s not even close.”

Brundle said the response to crimes committed by the mentally ill should not be “pointing fingers.” Instead, she said, “Let’s all work together on solutions.”

Politicizing terrible crimes may benefit candidates, but it doesn’t reduce crime. After the Willie Horton ad helped Bush win the presidency, the violent crime rate during his tenure increased by 13 percent.

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7593, or nbarnett@newsobserver.com