While Minneapolis Self Destructs, Memphis Lookin’ Pretty Sweet

Let’s take a break from the lunatics, shall we?

Clear the air of the stench of Walz and Fey’s sad little fiefdom.

How about if we check out a success story that progressives would rather you didn’t hear about because it proves that: 1) Minneapolis, as it is right now, doesn’t have to happen, 2) Minneapolis did all this to itself.

Back in October, I told you how President Trump, after signing a memorandum in September, was finally sending the National Guard into crime-ridden Memphis, Tennessee.

Why did the president feel it incumbent upon himself to take action? Well, Memphis had the highest property crime rate in the country (Portland, OR, is second).

 And because scenes like this were everyday occurrences.

Criminals spray and pray in Memphis in the direction of a local rappers home.

Plan accordingly…

“A man who was killed during a shootout over the weekend in a Frayser neighborhood was identified by family as Memphis rapper FastCash Cmoney.

He was part of a rap duo known… pic.twitter.com/490k4KXmPz

— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) August 12, 2025

The threat of the National Guard coming to town was enough to chill things out some, even before the first soldier set foot in the city on patrol. They’d only just arrived.

…But I will say ‘thank you’ to Trump, for bringing these National Guards and doing what they doing down here. 

For the first time in 5 years.. my kids have been able to play in the backyard and be able to do it comfortably. I haven’t heard a gunshot in 2 weeks. I haven’t seen any strange people walk up and down the street… I haven’t seen an infinity flag pass me in weeks. I’m sitting in my front porch right now and I’m seeing kids outside playing. People outside walking with their kids. Stuff I haven’t seen before in my neighborhood. All because we feel safe in our environment…I’m happy… to have a moment of peace. Just thank you Jesus. “

In conjunction with the Guard’s arrival, there was also an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surge at the same time.

Their efforts seem to have borne results almost from the start. By November, the jail in Memphis was too crowded, and the city was looking to Jackson for extra space. It was kind of wild to watch that as the illegals were rounded up by ICE and the foot patrols by the Guard, augmenting local law enforcement, started, statistical anomalies began to appear in the crime numbers, and they all were declines.

Well…huh.

All thanks to that October and November surge. NG is still there by the way pic.twitter.com/Rh2zy0Hvzc

— Latinx Adjacent Doctor PhD (@TonerousHyus) January 15, 2026

The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) guys are there, as well, and they sound as if they’ve been busy.

Yesterday, members of the Memphis Safe Task Force executed 51 criminal arrests, seized 13 illicit firearms and recovered four missing children. #WeAreATF#MemphisSafeTaskForce pic.twitter.com/muUfPTjnZV

— ATF Nashville (@ATFNashville) January 15, 2026

As my friend Willis Eschenbach pointed out, the biggest difference between the two cities from the beginning was the Memphis mayor’s attitude. He really did not want the federal government coming in, and that’s understandable. But he was also sanguine enough to accept that they were, not turn it into a hyperbolic war of words and deeds, and to make sure that those assets were being utilized in the best interests of his residents.

Two cities, same federal agency, totally different levels of sanity. 

In Memphis, the mayor looked at the political circus, looked at the crime stats, and basically said, “If ICE is coming anyway, I want them chasing killers and gangbangers, not doing drive‑by paperwork checks.” The idea is straightforward, grown‑up thinking: plug ICE into multi‑agency task forces, point them at the worst violent offenders, and when someone dangerous is already sitting in jail, hand them over there—disarmed, controlled, surrounded by bars and cameras. Quiet custody transfers, maximum bad guys removed, minimum drama.

Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty agreed there is a stark difference, and Memphis is in a much better place for having adults in charge.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) calls out the clear contrast between Minneapolis and Memphis when it comes to working with federal law enforcement and reducing crime.

When local jurisdictions work with the Feds, crime goes down.

It’s painfully obvious.pic.twitter.com/pooUMcNeBw

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) January 18, 2026

The stats on what has been accomplished in a few short months are so impressive that the local rag, in order to quibble over a Trump post, is splitting hairs by microns.

Trump claims Memphis crime down 77%, City presents different data

This is just embarrassing. To their credit, the city didn’t bite, but they sure had some bragging to do, regardless.

…On Saturday, Trump claimed that crime in Memphis was down 77 percent during a press conference on the U.S. operation to remove President Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela. The comment came as Trump thanked the National Guard and hailed the deployment in Washington, D.C. 

…The City of Memphis responded to Trump’s claims on Saturday evening. In a statement, the City said that it “can’t speak to the exact 77 percent figure,” but was confident about its data on the decrease in crime. 

“During the fourth quarter of 2025, overall crime was down 44 percent, including car theft down nearly 70 percent, and murders down by 44 percent. More importantly, since 2023, we have reduced overall serious crime by 41 percent,” the City stated.

Holy schamoly.

That’s since October.

Four days ago:

Report: Memphis Violent Crime At Eight-Year Low

Declines were “aided no doubt by federal and state assistance.”

Memphis recorded its lowest major crime rates in nearly a decade in 2025, a year public safety officials described as a “breakthrough year” and said was helped, in part, by the Memphis Safe Task Force. 

The city’s major violent crime rate — which includes murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults — fell 27.6 percent compared to 2024, dropping below levels seen in each of the previous eight years, according to Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI) data compiled by the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission. Across Shelby County, the violent crime rate declined 27.1 percent, also the lowest in at least eight years.

…“In many respects, 2025 was a breakthrough year in our community’s efforts to reduce and prevent crime,” said Bill Gibbons, president of the Crime Commission. “Significant declines began in 2024 and continued at a faster pace in 2025. The rate of decline improved even more in the latter part of 2025, aided no doubt by federal and state assistance in investigating and solving crimes and serving outstanding felony arrest warrants.”

Naturally, now that things are safer on the streets, the progressive, virtue-signaling left is creeping back out to protest ICE, deny service at restaurants to National Guardsmen, and is trying to make the case that ICE is picking up a majority of illegals with ‘no criminal convictions,’ although they grudgingly admit that ‘local data makes that uncertain.’ 

Nearly six of every ten ICE arrests in Tennessee since President Donald Trump took office involve individuals with no criminal convictions, an analysis of newly released government data shows.

Among 5,667 ICE arrests since Jan. 20 in Tennessee, 3,364 or 59 percent involve individuals without convictions. Additionally, 1,144 of those arrests — one in every five — were of individuals who were neither convicted of a crime nor had any pending criminal charges.

The analysis by the Institute for Public Service Reporting also found that 77 percent of ICE arrests listed as taking place in Shelby County since Trump took office involve people with no criminal convictions. However, limitations in location data make that finding less certain.

Funny how crime goes down as these people, whoever they are, are taken out.

SUCCESS: The @USMarshalsHQ Memphis Safe Task Force Has Resulted In 5104 Total Arrests.
826 Illegal Firearms Seized.
498 Gang Members Arrested.
140 Missing Children Recovered. pic.twitter.com/Ny8viRJNwA

— John Basham (@JohnBasham) January 13, 2026

The mayor and the police chief want to build on the gains they’ve had a chance to enjoy

…Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis hopes to sustain those gains as we head into the new year.

“We’ve had significant gains in 2025, and we hope to sustain that by putting together a strategy that continues to keep crime moving down, whether we have our Task Force support or not.  Our officers have been resilient.  Our leadership has been very methodical in their planning, and very effective in helping to get crime down in the city, so we’re really excited about 2026 and continue to sustain the gain,” said Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis.

In a statement, Memphis Mayor Paul Young said, “For the past two years, we’ve put in the work.   We reached a historic low in serious crime by staying focused on what matters in every community.”

If they keep it up, it might well be safe to be walkin’ in Memphis again one of these days.

Maybe even go to Graceland.

This is a good story, and I wish them all the best.

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