‘Morning Joe’ Backs Up Trump, Reveals Journalists’ Private Fears Of DC Crime

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough suggested on Tuesday that some of his peers in the news industry are not being honest with members of the public as they cite statistics to refute President Donald Trump’s claim that Washington, D.C.’s crime problem has grown worse in recent years.

The “Morning Joe” anchor revealed he regularly speaks with Capitol Hill reporters who are afraid of being accosted by a vagabond or street urchin. Scarborough said he found it “interesting” to see some reporters wield facts and figures to push back against Trump’s narrative, while in private, they fear for their safety.

“This is interesting,” Scarborough said. “I actually heard from a reporter when this happened, going, ‘Well, you know, if he doesn’t overreach, this could actually be a good thing for quality of life,’ etc, because in DC right now, I had this happen to my family and I had that, and they go down the list. And then I saw him tweet something completely different.”

Scarborough, who has lived in Washington, D.C. for three decades, noted that crime has fallen from modern highs in the past several years; however, “it’s certainly not as safe as the nation’s capital should be,” he admitted.

President Trump on Monday deployed hundreds of National Guard troops into the city in a bid to “reestablish law, order and public safety.” Their presence resulted in nearly two dozen arrests, including individuals holding drugs and illegal firearms.

Symone Sanders Townsend, another MSNBC host, pushed back on Scarborough by saying the perception of crime, not the reality, is what’s driving Trump to take action.

“The way I’ve heard DC being described this morning, is like it’s a city under siege. Like it’s a dangerous place, clutching your pearls, got to keep your bag under your dress when you leave the house and that is just not true,” she argued, while acknowledging “instances of juvenile crime.”

Putting more soldiers on the streets will not address the root causes of out-of-control kids and young thugs, according to Townsend.

“We need to rethink what makes cities safe in America,” she added.

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Scarborough then read a message from a liberal resident who told him they refuse to walk outside after 8 p.m. and know most friends or neighbors who have been carjacked or shot at, “a change from a decade ago.”

“I guarantee you that’s a person that has never voted for a Republican in their life,” Scarborough said. “This isn’t imagined. People you know, that I know, that they love, they and their friends don’t feel safe in Washington, D.C.”

During a press conference, Trump urged journalists to be honest about the real-life encounters they have had on the streets of the nation’s capital, Fox News reported.

“I understand a lot of you tend to be on the liberal side, but you don’t want to get — you don’t want to get mugged and raped and shot and killed,” Trump said. “And you all know people and friends of yours that that happened. And so you can be anything you want, but you want to have safety in the streets. You want to be able to leave your apartment or your house where you live and feel safe and go into a store to buy a newspaper or buy something. And you don’t have that now.”