Over the past half-century or so, American law enforcement and popular culture have conferred an extra level of seriousness and gravity to “hate crimes” as opposed to regular crimes. The definition of a hate crime, according to the FBI, is a regular crime with an added element of bias. “A ‘criminal’ offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity,” the FBI.gov website states.
I know what many of you were thinking when CNN moved Jim Acosta off of White House correspondent duty at the end of President Donald Trump’s administration: Who could fill his shoes? Who could be so nakedly partisan and woefully uninformed at the same time?