Dr. Phil McGraw chastised the political left on “The Real Story” Tuesday for its opposition to the ongoing Washington, D.C., crime crackdown, which he said is driven solely by the fact that President Donald Trump is leading it.
Trump deployed the National Guard on Aug. 11 to tackle crime in the nation’s capital, prompting criticism from many Democrats. Dr. Phil said during the episode on his YouTube channel that National Guard troops serve as a helpful deterrent to crime and that the left should prioritize the outcome of the crackdown rather than automatically criticizing it due to Trump’s role. (RELATED: Trump Announces Monday Press Conference To Discuss DC Crime Problem)
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“They’re there to help what might well be an overwhelmed, understaffed police department — not to take over for them, but to help them, to get things under control, where criminals say, ‘You know what? I need to get out of here, because it looks to me like there is an authority figure on every corner,’” Dr. Phil said. “And I look to my left and look to my right. And my fellow criminals and gang members that were here yesterday, they ain’t here today. They’ve been arrested and put in jail. And I don’t want to be next. I’m going to get the hell out of here.’”
“And maybe that message will calm things way down where a hardworking, dedicated police force can continue the momentum. So before you knee-jerk react that this is a bad thing, ask yourself what the result is. Don’t bury your head … because you don’t like who started this. You need to care about your community,” he added. “You need to care about crime. And I know you care about keeping yourself and your family safe. You should be able to take a walk at night. You should be able to walk to your car when you leave your job after dark. What you shouldn’t care about is who it is that’s getting the job done, as long as it’s getting done.”
A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released on Monday found that 54% of registered voters backed Trump declaring a crime emergency in the district and deploying the National Guard.
Robberies declined by 42% and carjackings had an 85% drop over the first 14 days of Trump’s crackdown, according to statistics published by the DC Police Union on Monday. Over 1,000 arrests had been made, a White House official told the Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese on Monday, including a member of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang.
Vera Action Director Insha Rahman told the Democratic National Committee summer meeting on Monday, “Don’t take the bait in talking about migrant crime or carjackings or the things that actually don’t matter to that many Americans.”
However, former President Joe Biden White House press office adviser Yemisi Egbewole on Tuesday disagreed, pushing Democrats to discuss crime.
“The fact of the matter is, we’re listening to a lot of Democrats in deep blue cities, and while they may want to gloss over this issue, there are people who live all across the nation that we’re going to need come 2026, come 2028, that desperately care about crime,” Egbewole said.
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