2024 GOP candidate rushes to defend Marine who strangled NYC subway passenger to death | Wagon Radio 720

WASHINGTON (AP) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has urged the public to show Daniel Penney that “America is on our side.” Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley asked the governor of New York to pardon Penney, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy donated $10,000 to his own defense fund.

Republican presidential candidates line up to support Penny, a 24-year-old US Marine Corps veteran who was videotaped holding an agitated subway passenger to the floor and strangling him in New York City. bottom. Passenger Jordan Neely, 30, later died of neck compression, the coroner said.

Penny was charged with manslaughter. His lawyers allege he acted in self-defense.

He’s already become a hero to many Republicans, who tout Penny as a good Samaritan who works to protect others in Democratic-led cities they claim are unsafe, but criminal justice A decade ago, people frequently praised the city as America’s safest metropolis, even though New York City’s experts say current crime levels rival New York’s past.

Neely, who is black, had never had sex with anyone on a train before being strangled for a few minutes by Mr. Penny, who is white. Met.

The rush of penny support is a reminder of the fierce endorsement of Kyle Rittenhouse by then-President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders during the 2020 presidential election. Rittenhouse, a white teen who killed two men and injured a third during a night of riotous protests in Wisconsin over the death of a black man, has been acquitted.

Most recently, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced that White Army Sgt. He vowed to pardon Perry.

Republican leaders have tried to blame Democrats for rising crime rates. The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee traveled to New York City last month for hearings investigating “Manhattan Violent Crime Victims,” ​​before Neely’s murder.

Democrats and racial justice advocates counter that the Republican message about restoring “law and order” is fueling deep-rooted racism.

Juman Williams, a Democrat who speaks for New York City, said, “They have a strategy to win the election, but that strategy really takes advantage of the worst parts of human nature and calls it division. It’s based on really cornering you with fear.” “And if race and class are reflected in it, it’s like Christmas to them.”

Neely, known to some commuters as a Michael Jackson impersonator, had a history of mental illness and was arrested several times in the past. Bystanders said he acted aggressively, yelling at passengers and begging for money, but he didn’t touch anyone on the train.

Christopher Bollik, director of the Muhlenberg University Public Opinion Institute, said Republican presidential candidates see Mr. Penney’s cause as a way to excite party supporters.

“Given that it overlaps very well with a very prominent issue among Republican voters from a law and order perspective, and is a perfect fit for this narrative about the decadence of urban life, the downside within Republican voters is Very few,” Bolick said. “That’s the message of Trump and his Republican bloc that ‘madmen’ are a threat and we need to protect ‘Americans’ in any way we can.”

But Republican advocacy for whites after blacks are murdered is often very different from cases where whites are murdered. A key example is Ashli ​​Babbitt, a white former Air Force veteran who was shot dead by a black police officer while trying to scale a broken window in the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 riots.

President Trump called Ms Babbitt an “innocent, wonderful, incredible woman” and labeled the black police officer who shot her a “thug”. Other Republicans also mourn her as her martyr.

Adrian Shropshire, executive director of the Black PAC, said protesters in some Republican-dominated congresses were outnumbered by demonstrators following a wave of protests against systemic racism and police brutality in 2020. The issue goes beyond the presidential election, he said, noting that he had passed measures calling for harsher penalties.

The Governor of Shropshire, whose organization works to improve African-American political participation and voter turnout, said the issue reinforces a long-standing Republican effort to “protect white people,” which is fundamental. said it was the purpose.

As for Democrats, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said before the indictment that “many in power demonize the poor” while Neely’s “murderer” will be “protected.” I tweeted that I was. New York City Mayor Eric Adams called Neely’s death “a tragedy that never should have happened” but cautioned against making irresponsible statements before all the facts are out.

Rafael Mangaal, director of police and security research at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative New York think tank, said the case was marked by deep legal ambiguity overlooked by many in both parties.

“I’m horrified that politicians on the left are accusing Daniel Penney of being a murderer, and politicians on the right are coming out and saying, ‘This is what we have to do. I’m sick of it,” said Mangaal. “I don’t want to live in a world where maintaining public order is down to everyday strap hangers.”

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called Penny a “hero,” and Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gates, who called Penny a “superman on the subway” and once offered an internship at Rittenhouse. I had no hesitation.

Trump, who is running for president for a third time, said this week he hadn’t seen the video, but said that Penny was “in great danger and the other people in the car were in great danger.” I think there is,” he told Messenger.

Further fueling Republican anger is the fact that Mr. Penney’s case is being handled by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Bragg is leading the prosecution of Trump for paying hush money to cover up an affair during the 2016 presidential election.

“We will overthrow Soros-funded members of Congress, stop left-wing crime-promoting policies, and reclaim our streets for law-abiding citizens,” said DeSantis, who is preparing to announce his 2024 presidential bid. We have to,” tweeted DeSantis, a billionaire investor and philanthropist, repeating his false allegations. George Soros orchestrated Trump’s indictment.

“We support Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny,” DeSantis wrote, adding a link to a fundraising page for Penny. “Let’s show this Marine… America is on our side.”

Former Ambassador Haley told Fox News Channel that New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul should pardon Penny. Ramaswamy donated to Penny’s Defense Fund through GiveSendGo. The site also raised money to help the rebels who stormed the Capitol on the day Babbitt was killed. Raised approximately $2 million for Penny.

During Neely’s funeral on Friday, Reverend Al Sharpton indirectly responded to Penny’s supporters by saying, “The Good Samaritan helps those in need. He doesn’t suffocate them.”

An ombudsman who can investigate citizen complaints about government agencies and services, Mr. Williams has been a prominent figure since a 1988 political ad featuring Willie Horton, a black murderer who raped a white woman during his weekend furlough from prison. He said Republican lawmakers were politicizing racially charged violence. He also noted that many of those currently donating to Mr. Penney’s defense fund were likely in favor of cuts to social programs that might have benefited people like Mr. Neely. .

“These people aren’t saying, ‘Let’s just keep going and see what happens,'” Williams said. “They instantly make a hero out of someone who kills someone screaming and screaming that they’re hungry on a train.”

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Associated Press writer Luke Sheridan contributed to this report from New York.

https://wgnradio.com/news/ap-2024-republican-hopefuls-rush-to-defend-marine-who-put-nyc-subway-rider-in-fatal-chokehold/ 2024 GOP candidate rushes to defend Marine who strangled NYC subway passenger to death | Wagon Radio 720

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