On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) stated that, on crime, “the Democratic Party has to look at this issue much more honestly and say, hey, there are some places where we should be doing better, our leaders should be doing better.”
Co-host Boris Sanchez asked, “What do you make of Trump framing this as a political issue that Democrats are on the wrong side of? He says that this crackdown is a 97-3 issue, meaning that it has immense public support. He says that Democrats have to get smart and they have to get tougher on crime. Is there a risk that Democrats run by not backing tougher crime laws?”
De Blasio answered, “I think it’s always a fair question with Democrats, are we doing everything that we can, constitutionally and appropriately, to fight crime? And I think the Democratic Party has to look at this issue much more honestly and say, hey, there are some places where we should be doing better, our leaders should be doing better. But that’s a different question [than] whether we should violate the Constitution, use military force in our cities, obviously with some political objectives in mind by the president as well, whether we should put our National Guard officers in harm’s way for a mission they’re not trained for, and actually, potentially, exacerbate tensions in communities. The best police leaders in America will tell you that the way to reduce crime is to build a bond between police and community and to really build relationships. You can’t do that with an occupying force that isn’t even from the place and doesn’t have the opportunity to get to know people. So, look, I think it’s very fair to say the public wants to see safe streets and Democrats and Republicans alike have to prove results. But that’s very different, Boris, than going in a direction that not only creates a constitutional crisis, again, could backfire, could lead to tragedy.”
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