MSNBC Airs Graphic Showing Drop in DC Crime as Trump Compares City to Baghdad in Wild Presser
As President Donald Trump made claims that Washington, D.C. had become overrun with violent criminals, MSNBC aired a graphic showing that crime rates there are actually dropping.
On Monday, Trump held a press conference announcing the use of the National Guard to curb crime in the nation’s capital. The president also announced that the federal government would assume control of the local police force.
During the presser, Trump said that D.C. had been “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people.” He even praised foreign police departments for their “rough” approach to policing and suggested he planned on bringing that philosophy to the U.S.
Using data and charts he brought to the podium, Trump compared D.C. to places like Baghbad and Bogota, Colombia:
These are different cities throughout the world. The red is a place called Washington, DC. Look at these. Baghdad is — we doubled up on Baghdad. Panama City; Brasilia, San Jose, Costa Rica; Bogota, Colombia — heavy drugs — Mexico City. I mentioned Lima, Peru — all double and triple what they are. So do you want to live in places like that? I don’t think so. I don’t think so; and I think the people in this room, if you wrote correctly, you’d see. Look at the kind of numbers we have. DC, 41 per 100,000 — number one that we can find anywhere in the world. Other cities are pretty bad, but they’re not as bad as that. That where you want to live, the reporters of the world? Juvenile offenders and crimes against persons, as they say. It’s getting worse. Not getting better, it’s getting worse.
According to MSNBC’s graphic — which pulled numbers straight from the FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department of DC — it actually is getting better. Violent crime overall in DC was down 26% at the time of writing, with homicides and robberies dropping by 12% and 28%, respectively.
Watch above via MSNBC.
