Maggie Haberman Says Pushing Back in Trump Risky for Dems: ‘There Is a Crime Problem Everywhere’

CNN commentator and New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman said Democrats risk seeming out of touch when they push back on President Donald Trump over his policing takeover.

Trump held a press conference Monday to announce the deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. — a move that critics have described as a stunt to distract from the uproar over deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

The president spoke and took questions for more than an hour, insisting that crime has gone up in D.C., even as data shows it has gone down. But even some critics of Trump’s move acknowledge that crime is a serious problem, especially in cities.

Haberman was a guest on Tuesday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, during which she and host Anderson Cooper noted the pitfall of Democrats pointing to statistics while Trump plays to voters’ feelings of safety:

COOPER: It’s also interesting because, I mean, they are focusing on eight of the 21 museums of the Smithsonian Institution, but there’s no reason it would stop there.

HABERMAN: No, look, I mean, we have seen him, as you say. We have seen him expand this effort as far as he has so far, because he’s not really facing a ton of pushback. And I think the institutions that find themselves in his crosshairs or in his focus, I should say aren’t really sure quite what to do, because if they push back in some cases, then they feel like they’re feeding into a narrative. If they submit completely, then they’re feeding into a different narrative. So they’re faced with a lot of imperfect choices.

COOPER: It’s so interesting, I mean, it’s again, it’s the conflict, you know, Democrats face when talking about the policing in the District of Columbia. Do you point out statistics of out of a 30-year low as they as the statistics show and thereby sound like you’re saying, oh, there’s not a crime problem in Washington, D.C., where there’s crime problem everywhere.

HABERMAN: Right, and I think you see that in terms of how Mayor Bowser has reacted. Look, I mean, she’s not — there is a crime problem everywhere. I mean, in multiple cities, big cities have traditionally had crime problems.

COOPER: There’s crime everywhere.

HABERMAN: Correct, and certainly, you know, we saw crime rates spike during COVID. In some cases we have seen it come down but there are a lot of people who feel unsafe in big cities. And so, if, you know, the mayor pushes back on the President, she sounds like she’s not addressing concerns of constituents. Those are the choices.

COOPER: All right, Maggie Haberman, thanks very much.

Watch above via Anderson Cooper 360.