Axios was forced to delete a social media post after readers erupted over a headline suggesting violent crime fell “despite” President Trump’s crackdown rhetoric, even as new data showed crime dropping sharply across major U.S. cities.
The outlet’s framing triggered swift backlash online, where critics accused Axios of downplaying the possibility that tougher enforcement and rhetoric may have contributed to the decline.
President Trump has spent months hammering Democratic-led cities over lawlessness while defending aggressive federal intervention.
“Chicago is a hellhole right now. Baltimore is a hellhole right now,” Trump said in September. “We have the right to [call in the National Guard] because I have an obligation to protect this country.”
Fresh figures from the Major Cities Chiefs Association tell a strikingly different story from the doom-and-gloom narrative pushed by Trump’s opponents.
The report, which compiled data from 67 of the nation’s largest police departments, showed declines across every major violent-crime category compared with 2024.
Homicides fell 19% nationwide. Robberies dropped roughly 20%. Aggravated assaults slid nearly 10%.
Several cities that were battered during the pandemic-era crime spike posted some of the most dramatic turnarounds.
Orlando and Tampa each logged homicide drops exceeding 50%, according to the Axios review. Denver, Seattle, Honolulu, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, also reported sizable declines.
Even cities frequently cited in political clashes over crime saw major improvements.
Chicago and Baltimore recorded homicide reductions of about 30%. Memphis and Portland posted declines near 25%.
The deleted Axios post quickly drew fire online, where critics argued that the decline could just as easily be attributed to tougher enforcement and the deterrent effect of Trump’s rhetoric.
The Trump administration has since leaned into the improving statistics.
“After record high crime across the country under Biden’s defund the police era, the murder rate has plunged to a 125-year low as crime falls across the board, according to new data,” the White House said Monday.
Officials also credited the president’s decision to send “federal resources into crime-plagued Washington, D.C.” as a factor behind falling violence in the nation’s capital.
Axios did not issue a detailed public explanation for deleting the original post, but the episode underscored how quickly media narratives can collide with hard crime data, and an audience increasingly skeptical of political spin.
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