Ford’s response was punitive and ideological, and the headline distilled the polarization of the moment. His message was aimed at voters hundreds and thousands of miles away in flyover states, where the battle for the Republican Party was unfolding. The demonizing of cities for the benefit of a rural audience had been a winning strategy in the past, and in 1975 two advisers to the president were convinced that the city’s travails provided another perfect political opportunity.