Trump claims he ‘loves the police’ — but his 2019 budget leaves cops twisting in the wind

President Donald Trump has professed multiple times that he "loves" the police — but his 2019 budget does a poor job representing that admiration.

As Vox reported Monday, Trump's budget draft "proposes a nearly 50 percent cut to the COPS Hiring Program, which helps hire local police officers."

The popular program, Vox noted, began in 1994 under then-President Bill Clinton. It was supposed to hire 100,000 officers and end after six years, but has been renewed yearly due to its popularity.

The Trump administration appears to have based their decision on research suggesting "hiring more police officers has a small effect on violent crime."

"These resources are spread thin and are not well targeted to achieve public safety outcomes," the administration argued. "For example, the majority of 2017 awards funded only one to two positions per law enforcement agency."

The Justice Department's overall budget, the report continued, is set to be cut by 1.2 percent, though federal law enforcement spending will increase by about 2.4 percent.