The Political Fallout of a Tech Executive’s Murder
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 19 April 2023
⏱️ 38 minutes
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Summary
On April 4th, Bob Lee, a multimillionaire tech founder, was found stabbed to death in San Francisco, at 2:30 in the morning. Even before concrete details of the crime were revealed, some residents blamed Chesa Boudin—the former D.A., who was ousted last summer—for a general sense of lawlessness in the city. Boudin was one of the more high-profile district attorneys elected in a wave of candidates running on platforms of criminal-justice reform. But he became associated with rising crime and disorder, leading to his eventual recall. Where has that left the progressive-prosecutor movement? Jay Caspian Kang, who wrote about Lee’s murder and the suspect, joins Tyler Foggatt to talk about perception versus reality in the battle over crime and homelessness, and how they affect attempts to fix a broken system.
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| 0:48.7 | On April 4th, Bob Lee, a multimillionaire tech founder, was stabbed to death in San Francisco at 2.30 in the morning. |
| 0:57.3 | Before anything was really known about the crime, people blamed Chesa Boudin, the former DA who was ousted last summer, for a general sense of danger in the city. |
| 1:07.2 | Budin was one of the more high-profile and promising figures in a wave of progressive district |
| 1:11.7 | attorneys who ran on platforms of criminal justice reform. |
| 1:14.9 | But he became associated with lawlessness and disorder, leading to his eventual recall. |
| 1:20.3 | Where has that left the progressive prosecutor movement? |
| 1:24.2 | You're listening to the political scene. |
| 1:26.6 | I'm Tyler Foggett, a senior editor at The New Yorker. |
| 1:29.6 | Jay Caspian King is a staff writer at The New Yorker, who lives in the Bay Area and has written extensively about race and politics. |
| 1:36.0 | You'll hear from him today about the narratives around crime and homelessness and about the stop and start attempts to fix a broken system. |
| 1:45.7 | So Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App, was recently stabbed to death in San Francisco, which |
| 1:51.6 | kicked off yet another new cycle about violent crime in progressive cities. |
| 1:57.1 | Jay, what exactly happened to Lee and how does his murder either fit into or complicate the existing narratives about San Francisco being a lawless hellhole? |
| 2:08.7 | You know, what happened to him was that it seems, or at least this is what the story from the police is and also the story in the press, which is that he got involved with |
... |
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