Trump’s crime crackdown is also his midterm sales pitch

(CNN) — President Donald Trump framed his presidency around delivering the American people a booming economy at home and long-sought peace abroad.

But lately, as progress toward both those goals has begun to stall, he’s pivoted toward a third priority.

Trump is rapidly making crime a centerpiece of his political agenda, encouraged by polls showing voters perceive big-city crime as a major problem and his own belief that the issue has knocked Democrats off balance, White House aides and advisers said.

What began two weeks ago as a concentrated crackdown on Washington, DC , has morphed into a sprawling White House effort to project strength across the nation — and turn public safety into the kind of attention-consuming debate that Trump and his advisers hope will give Republicans an ed