For Chicagoans, however, it’s just another day in the Windy City. Similar tales apply to other cities, such as New York City and Baltimore. Emboldened by the understandable reluctance of police officers to confront criminals, understandable in that Democratic mayors and prosecutors are out for badges, gangs are taking advantage of a security vacuum. Like the culprits, the victims are predominantly young black men. We are told that black lives matter, but only, it seems, when those lives are ended by police officers.

As I say, Trump has a winning issue. Confronted by the images of mourners gunned down in broad daylight and children shot with impunity, the public wants and deserves action, black parents likely most of all. Yes, they want a society that offers better education and opportunity to all its citizens. But where the metal meets the meat, people want the police to protect them. It may not look nice and often isn’t, but the deployment of federal law enforcement officers accomplishes two things. It shows that the federal government takes its duty of public security seriously, and it draws a striking contrast with politicians who would take the very opposite approach, defunding those who are needed to keep us safe.

Mayors and governors around the nation are going to have to wake up to the reality that professional policing, sometimes aggressive policing, is necessary. Until they do, Trump will find a growing benefit here.