Chicago had 211 murders in the first half of 2026.
Miami had eight.
And Ron DeSantis just revealed the one number that makes GTA 6 look ridiculous.
The Real Miami vs. Vice City
Grand Theft Auto VI drops November 19 – and it's set in a fictionalized South Florida that looks exactly like Miami-Dade, right down to Ocean Drive, PortMiami, and Miami International Airport.
The game's premise: Miami is a place where crime, chaos, and corruption are the daily currency.
DeSantis read that premise and called it what it is.
"Be careful what you see in some of these depictions," he said Thursday. "Not everything is going to be 'Scarface' as accurate as to what we have now here in South Florida. Buyer beware on some of that stuff."
The governor isn't wrong.
Miami-Dade County recorded 128 homicides in all of 2025 – its lowest total in 58 years.
https://twitter.com/LASHYBILLS/status/2098338283788902445?s=20
Chicago's Cook County recorded 541 in that same year.
Miami's murder rate sits at roughly 4.6 per 100,000 residents.
Chicago's is 10.4.
Then the numbers got even more embarrassing for the left's favorite crime-ridden narrative.
Through the first half of 2026, the City of Miami logged just 8 murders – a 50% drop from the same period in 2025.
Chicago had 211.
Miami's murder rate is now 26 times lower than Chicago's.
That's not a safer city.
That's a different universe.
What Law and Order Actually Produces
DeSantis didn't just dismiss the video game.
He connected the dots.
"As long as you don't do what L.A. did or some of those others, you're going to keep the momentum," he said. "If you start releasing criminals and you start doing this and letting homeless everywhere, well then, the quality of life's going to change."
According to DeSantis, L.A. defunded its police by $175 million, San Francisco cut $120 million, and New York slashed a billion dollars from the NYPD – while Florida kept its law enforcement fully funded and made the state a destination for officers fleeing lawless Democrat-run cities.
The results are in.
https://twitter.com/mymixtapez/status/2098423988095488456?s=20
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier – who sued Netflix this week for allegedly collecting data on children – echoed DeSantis at a press conference Wednesday: "I don't want to portray Miami as a drug-ridden city."
Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said the same.
County Commissioner J.C. Bermudez said the same.
Every Republican in the room said the same thing: Miami is not GTA 6's Vice City.
It's a city that chose law and order – and won.
The Pattern Democrats Can't Explain
Here's what the mainstream media won't tell you.
Miami's transformation didn't happen by accident.
Miami-Dade tallied 622 homicides in 1981.
That's a 79% reduction over four decades – built on exactly the policies Rockstar Games decided to use as a punchline.
The irony is almost too perfect.
https://twitter.com/videotech/status/2098414094416036282?s=20
A game company worth billions is banking on a blood-soaked version of Miami that stopped existing before most of their developers were born.
Meanwhile, the real Miami is shattering its own safety records under Republican leadership – and DeSantis is standing at a podium telling millions of incoming gamers not to confuse a Rockstar fantasy with a Florida reality.
When you fund police instead of cutting them, prosecute criminals instead of releasing them, and keep the mob from running the asylum – this is what you get.
Eight murders in six months.
The Democrats running Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco should study the numbers.
They won't.
Sources:
- Jesse Scheckner, "Buyer, beware: Gov. DeSantis says not to expect Grand Theft Auto when visiting Miami," Florida Politics, September 10, 2026.
- Michael Costeines, "Miami Homicides Down 50% from 2025 Midpoint, Lower on Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault," The Floridian, August 2026.
- "Miami Logs Sharp Drops In Homicides Auto Thefts And Robberies," Hoodline, May 12, 2026.
- "Florida crime trending down while California skyrockets explained by one key difference: expert," Fox News, October 30, 2023.
- "DeSantis contrasts Florida's tough-on-crime, pro-law enforcement policies with blue jurisdictions," FL Voice News, July 23, 2024.
