Trump’s new scare tactic

Ever cynical, Donald Trump has found a new source of fear to exploit as a political selling point. Once the scourge of Mexican immigrants and Muslims, the salesman is rebranding as America’s law-and-order candidate. “This election is a choice between law, order & safety — or chaos, crime & violence. I will make America safe again for everyone,” he tweeted Tuesday, more than a year into his presidential campaign.

And: “Crime is out of control, and rapidly getting worse. Look what is going on in Chicago and our inner cities. Not good!”

Trump needs a petrified electorate in order to pose as the strongman who will slay the dragons.

Now the monster is crime — never mind that long-term trends are moving in the right direction with some recent exceptions.

In New York, the first half of 2016 had recordlow murders and shootings, continuing downward trends that have saved thousands of lives since the 1990s. Killings dropped 6% to a stunningly low 161 homicides. Shootings slid by 20%.

Nationwide, the FBI’s violent-crime statistics for 2014 showed a 16% decline below 2005 levels. More recently, in the first half of 2015 murders rose 6% while property crimes dropped sharply.

To be sure, any uptick is cause for concern. So, too, a rise in murders in the nation’s 56 biggest cities. Baltimore ended 2015 with its deadliest year in history. Parts of Chicago have become deadly shooting galleries. Los Angeles saw a 20% spike in violent crime.

In the best light, Trump is seizing on those facts to obscure the truths that America is far safer today than it was five, eight or 10 years ago, and that nationwide trends are mostly positive.

Plainly, the big guy is desperate.