You know what’s being left unsaid here.

The familiar story in Europe and to a lesser degree in America is that Muslim terrorists are almost always deemed mentally ill. When the media was prodded by Asian-American activists into paying attention to attacks on Asian people, the stories fell into two predictable categories. There was the occasional “white man shouts anti-Asian slurs” and “Asian woman attacked by a mentally ill assailant”.

Or to simplify, it’s not racism when minorities do it.

He Was Charged in an Anti-Asian Attack. It Was His 33rd Arrest. – Many people arrested in assaults on Asian residents in New York have had a history of mental health episodes, arrests and homelessness, complicating the city’s search for an effective response.

No surprise there. 

As I’ve been writing ever since this whole narrative went viral, the people attacking Asians are the same folks assaulting everyone and anyone.

1. Thugs with criminal records

2. Homeless, the population of mentally ill, and junkies who can overlap with the above

But according to the New York Times this complicates things. When the response is really very simple. After 33 arrests, lock him up, throw away the key, and then throw a party for all the people he won’t get to attack. Obviously, that’s not very progressive. So it’s a complicated problem.

Tommy Lau, a Chinese-American bus driver in New York City, was walking last month during his lunch break in Brooklyn when he noticed a man harassing an older Asian couple.

Mr. Lau, 63, stepped in front of the man to ask what he was doing. The man, Donovan Lawson, spat at Mr. Lau and punched him in the face, calling him an anti-Chinese slur, prosecutors said. Mr. Lawson, who is Black, was arrested and charged with a hate crime.

It was the 33rd arrest for Mr. Lawson, 26, who is homeless and mentally ill, the authorities said. 

33 arrests by the age of 26. Do the math on that one.

Four times, officers had been called to assist him because he appeared to be in the grip of a mental breakdown, and he was being monitored for treatment in a mental health program run by the Police Department.

Clearly, this program is working really well. Maybe he ought to be monitored in a facility. With bars.

He is not unique. Many of the people charged recently with anti-Asian attacks in New York City have also had a history of mental health episodes, multiple arrests and homelessness, complicating the city’s search for an effective response.

Let me translate from progspeak.

Democrats turned over the streets to career criminals, junkies, and the homeless. and refuse to lock them up or enforce laws.

For instance, Mr. Lawson was one of at least seven people arrested after attacks on Asian city residents in the last two weeks of March, ending with a horrifying attack on a Filipino-American woman, who was kicked repeatedly in broad daylight in Manhattan by a man the police say was homeless and on parole after serving a prison sentence for killing his mother…

Officials say those arrested are part of a population of mentally unstable people who cycle in and out of jail on minor charges and too often do not get the psychiatric attention they need. 

He killed his mother. Not a minor charge.

But it’s time to boil down the complexity of turning over the streets to thugs into something simpler… it’s President Trump’s fault.

Attacks against Asian-Americans began to rise across the country last year as the pandemic raged and former President Donald J. Trump called the disease the “Chinese virus” and the “Kung Flu” in an effort to blame China for the catastrophe. Law enforcement officials said Mr. Trump’s rhetoric provided ammunition to people who scapegoated Asian-Americans for spreading the virus, exacerbating racial tensions and spurring unprovoked attacks and harassment.

Which of the above gentlemen profiled by the Times does the paper feel was most influenced by President Trump? The guy who had previously killed his mother (before Trump was in the White House or there was a pandemic) or the guy who’s been arrested 33 times?

Or maybe this guy?

One homeless man charged in a recent anti-Asian hate crime, Eric Deoliveira, 27, had 13 prior emotional disturbance calls and at least a dozen arrests, the police said.

On March 21, the police said, Mr. Deoliveira, who is Hispanic, punched a Chinese-American mother in Manhattan and smashed the sign that she had been carrying after a rally to protest anti-Asian violence.

On Saturday night, Mr. Deoliveira, who had been released after the assault charge, was arrested again in Queens and accused of smashing the windshield of a police patrol car, prosecutors said. A lawyer for Mr. Deoliveira did not respond to a request for comment.

An obvious Trump voter.  Or this guy?

Mental fitness has already become a legal issue in some cases. Last month, a judge ordered a mental health evaluation for Ruddy Rodriguez, 26, who was arrested and accused of hitting an Asian man on the back of the head in Manhattan while saying an anti-Chinese expletive.

Prosecutors said that Mr. Rodriguez, who is Black and Hispanic, told investigators after his arrest, “I hit him. I don’t like Asians. I get into disputes with them.” He also is said to have told a police officer, “I’m going to kill all of the Asians when I get out of here.”

If only we had some institution that could house crazy violent thugs and keep them off the street. Maybe one day we’ll invent an institution like that. For now, we have no choice but to free criminals and crazies, refuse to lock them up, and blame President Trump for their attacks.

That’s the progressive way.