Expect Joe Scarborough & Co. to soon return to their regularly scheduled programming of trashing President Trump.
But at least in this moment, the show has struck a very different tone on the issue of Trump’s moves to use federal agents to bolster crime-fighting in DC.
On today’s show, Susan Page of USA Today was the first to suggest that Trump has set a “trap” for Democrats. Oppose Trump’s crime-fighting efforts at their peril. As Page mordantly put it: “There are very few politicians who want to stand up for crime.”
Joe Scarborough ran with that, repeatedly referring to Trump’s trap. Scarborough argued that Dems are making a huge mistake by trying to counter Trump by citing supposed statistics showing a decrease in DC crime. He cited a recent Washington Post poll indicating that 91% of DC residents see crime as a problem, with 51% saying it is an extremely serious problem. Moreover, it is in particular black and low-income residents who are most concerned about crime.
Scarborough said he has spoken to Democrats, including those who have worked on Dem campaigns and have never voted for a Republican, who told him that if Trump pulls this off in a reasonable manner, they will see his initiative “as a positive.”
Regarding the people who pretend to be the champions of black voters in opposing Trump’s moves, Scarborough cited an Al Sharpton phrase: “they need to wake up from being woke.”
This item began with the prediction that Morning Joe, and by extension, the liberal media at large, would soon return to their Trump-trashing ways.
But can they be as generous as Scarborough’s Democrat contacts in admitting on any occasion, from crime to immigration to foreign peace-making, that something Trump does is a “positive”?
Here’s the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
6:18 am EDTSUSAN PAGE: You know, I think this is one more example of President Trump’s skill at taking an issue in which there is broad public agreement, like illegal immigration ought to be stopped at the southern border, or the sentiment that men should not participate in women’s sports, and now standing against crime. There are very few politicians who want to stand up for crime.
Now, it sets a kind of trap for Democrats, because they can say, if Trump says, I’m going to make the capital city safe, everybody’s for that. And if Democrats say, well, look, it’s at a 30-year low last year. It’s declined even more this year. This is not the national emergency he betrays it as being, it seems as though they are not taking a tough stance on crime.
So I think this has been very tricky for Democrats. And as one result, you see some Democrats, including the leadership of the city, protesting that this federalized takeover of law enforcement in Washington is a bad thing and inappropriate and unnecessary. A lot of Democrats are just going to wait and see, because they’re concerned about getting kind of caught in a political trap that the president has set for them.
. . .
JOE SCARBOROUGH: I want to circle back to what Susan said, and that is, this seems like a trap set up for Democrats. Again, I know there are other people watching this show that don’t live in D.C. and don’t hear from me.
I’m telling you, I have received a lot of texts from Democrats that worked on Democratic campaigns, who have never voted for a Republican before, that says if he doesn’t overreach, a big if, but if he doesn’t overreach, if he does this in partnership with the D.C. police force, then they will see that as a positive thing.
. . .
This is a trap for good reasons. I mean, you know, the answer to this problem for Democrats is not: Oh, everything’s okay —
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Right.
SCARBOROUGH: — There’s nothing to see here. Move along, move along. Oh, Washington has dropped 24% or whatever in crime, dah, dah.
Well, let me give you some other numbers. The Washington Post took a poll in late April, early May. 91% of Washington residents say crime is a problem. 91%. 51%, it is an extremely serious problem.
And John Heilemann, we’ve had people before put this in racial terms. And this is what, I must say, this is one thing that I think Democrats have gotten so wrong about crime. So wrong about crime.
Let me just read, let me just read the Washington Post here: “There are stark divides between among lines of race and income in the poll, with black residents and lower-income residents significantly more worried about crime than white residents and those with higher incomes.”
. . .
And it is black residents of Washington, D.C., and those who are struggling economically, who see it as the most serious problem.
This reminds me so much of during the defund the police campaign, that a lot of people from gentrified areas of New York were talking about. There were, the New York Times reported it, there were a lot of representatives that represented majority black districts in some of the most dangerous areas in New York City. And those representatives were saying, no, don’t defund the police! Give us more police. More police for our streets, more police for our businesses, more police for our schools, more police that would allow our children to walk from our homes or our apartments to their schools without being beaten up or attacked by drug dealers.
I mean, and again, here we see in Washington, D.C., again, the overwhelming majority of black voters, and especially black women, see crime in D.C. as a very serious crime [sic, presumably, problem].
So when somebody comes on TV acting like they’re the champions of black voters and, no, we can’t have this [Trump’s moves] happen, I think they, as Reverend Al would say, they need to wake up from being woke. And they need to look and see who are the people most concerned, even today, by crime in D.C.
