Chris Matthews: Dems ‘Are Falling into the Trap of Defending What’s Indefensible,’ Murder Rate

BRZEZINSKI: “We have special correspondent of ‘Vanity Fair; and host of the ‘Fast Politics’ podcast Molly Jong-Fast, the president of the National Action Network and host of MSNBC’s ‘Politics Nation’ reverend Al Sharpton and Former MSNBC Host Chris Matthews joins us. His Substack is entitled, ‘Hardball with Chris Matthews.’ We love it. And Chris, you also served as a capital cop in D.C.. I want to ask you —“
MATTHEWS: “Yeah.”
BRZEZINSKI: “— not just your take about this move by President Trump, what you feel about it, but also how — how Democrats should be responding. What do you think the politics of this is? I think it’s a political win for Trump and I think that the Democrats need to go beyond saying no, look at the data, crime is going down. I feel that is exactly the wrong response politically, even if it’s true. Because the problems that D.C. is facing, whether the data shows it’s going up or down, is homelessness, crime, rats, poverty, disparity and wealth, all the systemic problems that cities are facing, and I’m wondering if Democrats need to go beyond the data and come up with a real answer to these problems. What do you think in terms of this on the political level? Do you think this is a win for Trump? How do you think Democrats are responding?”
MATTHEWS: “Well, there’s a couple things here. I think he’s showing strength, which is always a big thing with him. I want to go back to what you just said initially about me. I was a capitol policeman just for three months. It was a patronage job. I later became a legislative assistant to a senator. But I got to tell you when he — when he has that guy in the Justice Department now who said kill the cops, kill the cops —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Yeah.”
MATTHEWS: “— during the January 6th event, I — I’ll never forget that, that a president of the United States has not —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Right.”
MATTHEWS: “— only pardoned the people that committed crimes that day and had their pictures taken so you have hard evidence of their criminality, and he let them go. He pardoned them. And then he put this guy who says kill the cops in the Justice Department. It’s awful. Is he for the government or against the government? That’s a good question. Now in terms of D.C., I’ve chosen to live my life here. I love D.C.. I think it’s a beautiful city. When I go to work when I do morning yoga, coming in early in the morning, I got to tell you it’s a beautiful city, Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, you come up to Washington Mall, it’s beautiful. Now there are some crimes that are evident and are iconic. If you come into this city, you’re going to see pup tents in the pond circle. Now they don’t commit crimes —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Yes.”
MATTHEWS: “— necessarily, but they’re there. Signs of homelessness which is not being treated. You see graffiti which drives me crazy, because it’s right on the most beautiful places, the bridges and all covered in graffiti, and they have to paint it over to cover it up. They don’t really get rid of it, it’s still there. And so I think that iconic the look of a suburbanite, I think this is about the suburbs and the rural areas against the big cities. I think Trump knows that people are afraid to go into big cities, to go to a Phillies game. They talk about it. They don’t want to go downtown. They don’t want to — they don’t — they don’t trust the situation. So politically, I think this strength is his red power in the rural parts of Pennsylvania —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Yeah.”
MATTHEWS: “— and Scranton and Bethlehem and Allentown, those people are going to look at this headline say it’s about time somebody’s doing something about D.C. And Philly —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Right.”
MATTHEWS: “— with Krasner as our DA. You need a tougher DA. You just do. To put people in jail. But the crime is inevitably committed by working people. And in D.C. working people are black, African-American. They’re the ones getting hit by crime, not the suburbanites and not the — the tourists and not the people to just look at the city. Trump looks at the city visually like a real estate agent. He wants to beautify the city like he’s doing at the White House with that ridiculous ballroom he’s putting in and getting rid of the Rose Garden. That’s Trump work. But I think it shows strength. I agree with you, I think this is a strength move against the big cities who are in a difficult situation on crime. And the murder rate, you can’t keep saying violent crime is down with the murder rates up. To the average person, the murders are about life and death. You don’t brag about a rising murder rate. And the Democrats are, I agree with you, Mika —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Mm-hmm.”
METTHEWS: “— they’re falling into the trap of defending what’s indefensible.”
BRZEZINSKI: “It’s a trap. Yes, it’s a trap. I mean if it’s not a winner politically to say oh, you’re wrong look at the data, because you know if one violent crime happens in a very heavily populated part of the city people hear about it and it’s visceral. They don’t want it. And they want to — they’ll gravitate to the person who appears to be doing something about it.”