Anyone who pays even the slightest attention to the news these days could tell you that large portions of America, particularly in the larger cities, are in decline. Crime rates continue to rise, businesses are closing, the streets and mass transit systems are more dangerous, and neighborhoods are being overrun by illegal migrants. But the Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin begs to differ. She was rolled out at a press conference ahead of last night’s debate to act as a surrogate for the Democratic Party. She argued that quite the opposite is true and America is not a country in decline under Joe Biden. And to prove it, she suggested that people “come to cities!” She continued her grammatically challenged defense, saying that “Democrat mayors all across the nation are creating great places where people want to be.” So… okay then. Thanks for the update, Mayor Rhodes-Conway. We’ll make a note of that.

“I would suggest that anybody who thinks that this country is in decline — come to cities!” Satya Rhodes-Conway, Madison, Wisconsin’s Democratic mayor, said during a press conference before the GOP debate on Wednesday.

“Because Democrat mayors all across the nation are creating great places where people want to be. Where growth is happening, and where our economy is growing. This is not a nation in decline. This is a great nation, and it’s made up of cities and people all across America again, that the president and the vice president are fighting for every day.”

Rhodes-Conway touted the success of her town of Madison that she said is “driving the growth” of the state of Wisconsin.

Some people were impolite enough to point out that the debate was being held in Milwaukee. That’s a city run by Democrats where 27 people were shot just last weekend.

This was Milwaukee last weekend. https://t.co/eqWvA8iKEa pic.twitter.com/z9T48ig3aX

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) August 23, 2023

If these Democrat-run cities are such great places “where people want to be,” why are the people fleeing in droves? How sustainable is a city like San Francisco where most of the retail and business spaces are sitting empty or occupied by the homeless and the drug addicts? (People who do not make rent or mortgage payments, by the way.) How many people really want to visit a place where a CNN news crew tries to do a report on all of the crime but their car gets jacked while they’re trying to work?

I understand why the Democrats feel they need to put some sort of positive spin on the situation. Nearly all of the cities in question are run by Democrats from the top down. They are the ones making all of the policy decisions so the result rests on their shoulders. But people aren’t that stupid. They understand that the situation is falling apart and they know who is responsible.

So the Democrats are left spending their time between now and the next elections essentially whistling past the graveyard. (Sadly, in some cases, literally.) ‘Yes! Come to cities! Think of all the fun. You’ll have a blast! Er… perhaps “blast” was the wrong word.’ Trust me, those “I ‘heart’ NY” shirts aren’t selling very well these days. And most of the breeze you’ll feel in the Windy City is caused by the U-Haul trailers blowing by.

But the news isn’t all bad, of course. Four of the eight largest American cities with the lowest crime rates are in Florida, Texas, and Arizona. The Democrats should think about that for a moment and let it sink in. Why might that be? And what could you be doing better?