The rampant violence, destruction and attacks on police in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland are scenes one would expect to see in a Third World country, not in America’s largest cities.

Last week, a group of clergy were leading a peaceful march to raise awareness against the recent surge in violence, which included the shooting death of a one-year-old boy when they were attacked on the Brooklyn Bridge by a group of Black Lives Matter protesters.

Four police officers were injured, including Terrence Monahan, the top uniformed police officer in the NYPD.

Monahan later stated that the level of morale among NYC officers is as low as it’s ever been.

Despite the chaos, he said there is still a silent majority that realizes how police regularly put their lives on the line, whether by running into a burning building to save someone, saving a choking baby or a cardiac victim, or responding to gunfire.

Among the 36 people arrested in last week’s Brooklyn attack was a Bronx man who allegedly punched Monahan and two other officers. After being arraigned on assault charges, he was released without bail.

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio bragged a few days later about the city having fewer people in jails than any time since World War II, and that “we are safer for it and better for it.”

The mayor lives in a fantasy world. Violence in his city has increased tenfold over the last 45 days and murders have skyrocketed over 200 percent.

The 528 shooting incidents and 636 shooting victims during the first half of this year translate to a 46 percent increase in incidents and a 53 percent increase in shooting victims compared to the same time last year.

A week before the vicious Brooklyn Bridge attacks, de Blasio helped paint a Black Lives Matter mural on a Bronx street. He also announced a $1 billion reduction in police funding. We’re now seeing the consequences of those actions by the mayor and the city council.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, another liberal Democratic, dismissed the violence as a natural reaction to unemployment because of coronavirus and said that “rent struggles” are to blame for the recent crime wave. That idiotic commentary, along with de Blasio’s actions, sparked a firestorm on social media.

After the attack on Chief Monahan by thugs, former NYPD Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik tweeted for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to get rid of de Blasio.

Also last week, The National Association of Police Organizations, representing more than 1,000 police associations and 241,000 officers, endorsed President Trump’s reelection, praising his “steadfast and very public support” for law enforcement.

NAPO did not endorse a candidate in the 2016 election but supported the Democrats’ Obama-Biden ticket in both the 2008 and 2012 elections.

During a roundtable earlier in the week with people whose lives have been positively impacted by law enforcement, President Trump blamed reckless politicians for not recognizing the police for their heroic deeds but considering them an enemy that should be abolished or defunded.

Ed Mullins, the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, was correct in stating that if the mayor was doing his job properly and the district attorney’s were prosecuting the laws, New York wouldn’t be having such chaos in the streets.

In most cases, the victims and biggest losers in the largely Democratic liberal-run cities are the poor and minorities, who along with the rest of the world, watch as the anarchists turn their businesses and neighborhoods into war zones.

By JIM ZBICK| tneditor@tnonline.com