Fmr DHS Sec. Tom Ridge Slams Trump for ‘Reality TV Approach’ in Pushing Federal Agents Into Cities: ‘I’m Not Sure They Have a Plan’

Former Bush Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge offered withering criticism of the Trump administration’s deployment of federal agents into cities, calling out the noted lack of coordination and relatively small size as indicative of a “reality TV approach” that is more focused on publicity than actually reducing crime.

Speaking with CNN’s John Berman, Ridge, a former Pennsylvania governor, repeatedly said he was “disappointed” with President Donald Trump’s attempt to deal with a “serious problem.”

“It seems like a reality TV approach,” Ridge said. “Let’s check this out: 200 officers and by the way, they are not his personal militia, but he’s going to send in 200 officers, good men and women, no doubt about that, to work with 13,000 police, men and women, no doubt with a sudden surge and they may have a few arrests and may have a few imprisonments but they’re not going to sustain that commitment, and nothing in this plan, I’m not sure they have a plan. Have they talked to the mayor?, Have they talked with chief of police? Have they talked with the U.S. Attorney, etc., etc. and they’ll leave in a couple weeks and lawlessness will reemerge because they haven’t dealt with the social and economic conditions that underpin the lawlessness. It’s a disappointing response to a serious problem but it’s typical of somebody who thinks reality TV is real.”

Noting Ridge’s use of “personal militia” in his answer, Berman pressed Ridge on what he meant.

“I mean that the men and women in not only DHS but throughout the federal law enforcement agencies and many, many agencies go to work every single day to try to provide safe and secure communities all around this country,” Ridge responded. “But you cannot secure the country from inside the beltway. So the best thing you can do is deploy these federal agents, good men and women to work in cooperation with the state and local law enforcement. But you just don’t pick up the phone and order them into any community, and, I would say — rarely will I speak for Republicans or Democrats or anybody in elected office — I doubt if there is a Republican or Democrat today, mayor or governor, that wouldn’t contest the unilateral incursion of federal agents without coordination with state and local law enforcement officials. I just don’t think that would happen. Nor should it, by the way. ”

Watch the video above, via CNN.