We still don't get it.

On the issue of crime, the Republicans have been playing my fellow Democrats like a fiddle for 50 years. And now we're getting played again.

The latest maestro is President Trump, who has deployed National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. — to address an alleged "crime emergency" — and in Los Angeles, where he cited protests against immigration raids. He has mused about sending troops to Chicago, Baltimore and other cities. And on Monday, Trump directed the Defense Department to create "specialized units" within the National Guard to assist local police "in quelling civil disturbances."

It's all part of Trump's efforts to protect "law and order," according to a White House fact sheet. That's been a Republican talking point since the days of Richard Nixon, who rode to victory in 1968 by flooding the airwaves with images of switchblades and hypodermic needles. The message was clear: If you're worried about crime, vote Republican.

And the Democrats' response? Republicans are exaggerating the problem. It's stoking racism by highlighting African American criminality. And it's promoting a federal militarization of policing, which places our entire democracy in peril.

That was true in the 1960s, and it's even more true today. As Democratic leaders have noted over the past several weeks,

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