Now ex-MSNBC star joins Anderson Cooper in warning Dems have fallen into Trump's perfect DC crime 'trap'
The retired 'Hardball' host explained how he believes the president is effectively daring members of the party to defend an unacceptable status quo of crime in the municipality.
The government in January said violent crime in DC was at a '30-year-low' in 2024, and early statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department suggest similar results can be expected for 2025.
But such statistics, Matthews warned Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski, can be misleading - especially when taken as truth without a hint of personal experience.
Matthews - a resident of nearby Maryland - concluded that crime remains a problem in DC, and Democrats risk coming off as out-of-touch by using it as a talking point.
The argument echoed one offered by Anderson Cooper on CNN on Tuesday. Mike Nellis, a former Kamala Harris advisor, similarly told the Hill: 'My advice to Democrats is don't take the bait.'
Matthews - after leaving MSNBC in 2020 - told Brzezinski: 'I think that the Democrats need to go beyond saying, "No, look at the data, crime is going down,"'
'I feel that is exactly the wrong response politically,' he continued.
'Even if it's true.'
With the 2026 midterm elections just over a year away, Matthews, 79, went on to explain more in-depth why he believes progressive relying on statistics showing that crime is decreasing are playing into the president's hands.
'The Democrats are, I agree with you, Mika, they're falling into the trap of defending what's indefensible,' he said, predicting the strategy could soon blow up in Dems' faces, especially when Midterms roll around next year
'I love DC I think it's a beautiful city,' he added separately.
'[But you see] signs of homelessness, which is not being treated... You see graffiti, which drives me crazy, because it's right on the most beautiful places, the bridges and all covered in graffiti, and they have to paint it over to cover it up,'
'They don't really get rid of it, it's still there.'
He said he believes the issue stems from a divide seen between those who live in 'the suburbs and the rural areas' of big cities like DC still struggling from a pandemic-related spike in crime.
'I think Trump knows that people are afraid to go into big cities, to go to a Phillies game,' Matthews said. 'They talk about it. They don't want to go downtown.'
Brzezinski's cohost husband, Joe Scarborough, would have agreed if he were present.
He read a text from a 'very liberal' friend who lives in DC on-air Tuesday, to illustrate a similar point.
'He says, "This may sound controversial, but I'm not totally opposed to Trump's National Guard move in D.C. I know he's doing it for politics, but crime remains rampant,"' Scarborough read.
'"I've had too many friends carjacked, shot at. None of us will walk more than three blocks after 8 p.m. 13 year-olds are committing many of these crimes. Quite a change from a decade ago, when things were much calmer."'
Cooper, on Tuesday, told New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman that Dems' decision was set to backfire because so many locals of all political persuasions have personally experienced DC's lawlessness.
'It's so interesting,' Cooper he said on the set of Anderson Cooper 360. '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, DC? Where there's crime problem everywhere.'
Haberman, in turn, conceded: 'There is a crime problem everywhere.'
Matthews, 70, retired from MSNBC after more than 30 years with the network in March 2020, and currently lives in a suburb of Maryland not far from DC with his family
The president justified the order by insisting the state of DC constituted a 'crime emergency'. Troops arrived there on Tuesday. The situation remains ongoing.
Total violent crime in the District of Columbia decreased 35 percent from 2023 last year, the DOJ said in January. But it continues to be plagued by shocking incidents.
Brzezinski, in turn, told Matthews: 'Yes, it's a trap. If it's not a winner politically to say, "Oh, you're wrong, look at the data," because you know if one violent crime happens in a very heavily populated part of the city, people hear about it and it's visceral.
'They don't want it,' she added. 'And they'll gravitate to the person who appears to be doing something about it.'
Brzezinski and Scarborough have lived in DC for the past three decades. retired from MSNBC after more than 30 years with the network in March 2020. He lives in a Maryland suburb with his family.
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