DONALD TRUMP’S DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE likes to present a tough-on-crime image.
asserted
DEPARTMENT → like → image
But how far it goes to cultivate that image has been a recurring source of controversy.
asserted
goes → go → controversy
It’s not just the prosecution of political opponents and the greenlighting of immigration crackdowns that largely dispense with due process.
asserted
that → ’ → process
It’s also in the rhetoric—which often veers into the disturbing and the bizarre.
asserted
which → ’ → disturbing
Last week, one of the department’s top prosecutors argued that, in the pursuit of cracking down on criminals, eugenics could be a useful tool.
uncertain
eugenics → argue → criminals
Boyle was appearing on a local conservative livestream, NC Chats, to discuss—among other things—the administration’s investigation of Rep. Ilhan Omar, as well as the indictments of a handful of noncitizens for having allegedly voted illegally in the 2024 elections in North Carolina.
uncertain
Boyle → appear → Carolina
Eventually, however, the conversation turned to crime, the supposed enabling of it by liberals, and how frustrating it is to see violent criminals get off on an insanity defense.
asserted
criminals → turn → defense
“I’ve suffered with PTSD for most of my life,” host Cassie Clark said in the October 21 episode.
asserted
Clark → suffer → episode
“I also disassociate with it whenever it hits real bad.
asserted
it → disassociate → it
And you know what I’ve never done?
asserted
I → know → what
I’ve never hurt anybody.
asserted
I → hurt → anybody
It’s never even crossed my mind to hurt anyone, even at the worst of it, because I know right from wrong.”
asserted
I → cross → wrong
Boyle seemed persuaded.
asserted
Boyle → seem → ?
“What I’ve observed is, you know—it occurs to me, and this is not a new thought, I heard someone else say it, and I started looking, and if you look, you see it,” he replied.
asserted
he → observe → it
“Five percent of the population cause 90 percent of the crime.”
asserted
percent → cause → crime
So far, so whatever—it’s true that most violent crimes are carried out by a proportionally small segment of the population.
asserted
crimes → ’ → population
But Boyle didn’t stop there:
asserted
Boyle → stop → ?
I think there’s a big component—if you took out [the] 5 percent of the population that’s bad and removed them from society, so they don’t create mayhem and create, you know, babies with the gene pool of more bad, then I think, in two, maybe three generations, think of how great this population would be.
asserted
population → think → generations
“But,” he finished, “that’s something that takes willpower.”
asserted
that → finish → willpower
“That’s very biblical,” Clark said.
asserted
Clark → ’ → ?
“I like it.”
asserted
I → like → it
“Praise the Lord,” Boyle replied.
asserted
Boyle → praise → Lord
Again: Although the exact figures vary across different studies, criminologists have known for decades that the vast majority of violent crimes are carried out by a proportionally small percentage of the population.
asserted
majority → vary → population
But endorsing the cleansing of the gene pool as a means of tackling this problem is way outside the mainstream.
asserted
endorsing → endorse → mainstream
Most people recoil at the idea that the human race can be improved over time by forcible control of the gene pool, in part due to the history of shocking human rights abuses that eugenics-embracing governments perpetrated in the twentieth century.
asserted
governments → recoil → century
But eugenicist ideas have kept a toehold on the darkest white-supremacist fringes of the right—a fringe that has burst back into the mainstream during the Trump era.
asserted
that → keep → era
Boyle didn’t make the point in terms of race.
asserted
Boyle → make → race
Still, that a prominent prosecutor at the Justice Department would casually endorse the idea that 5 percent of the population should be “removed from society” and prevented both from “creat[ing] mayhem” and “creat[ing] babies with the gene pool of more bad” is astonishing.
asserted
percent → endorse → bad
He also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the civil division of the same office he now leads.
asserted
he → serve → office
He was appointed to his current post last year by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.
asserted
He → appoint → Bondi
Elsewhere in the interview, Boyle seemed a bit more guarded about how unusual political views might come across.
uncertain
views → seem → interview
While discussing whether moonshine should be legal, Clark made another surprising statement: “I’m one of those people where if we could strip most of the laws back to the early 1800s, I would be okay with it.
uncertain
I → discuss → it
“You should be very careful when you say that,” Boyle responded.
asserted
Boyle → say → that
The Aporia
