| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
The flag replacement program got started by a good friend of mine who, a Navy vet, saw a flag at the office that needed to be replaced and said, wouldn't this be great if this can be something that we did for anyone? | |
| Comcast has always been a community-driven company. | ||
| This is one of those great examples of the way we're getting out there. | ||
| Comcast supports C-SPAN as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front-row seat to democracy. | ||
| On your screen this morning is Armstrong Williams, who's a columnist, TV talk show host, and entrepreneur, and the owner of the Baltimore Sun, here to talk about the Trump administration's efforts in fighting crime. | ||
| Mr. Williams, let's just talk about first the federal takeover of the D.C. police department. | ||
| You wrote in a piece, in a recent piece, the silent majority is applauding. | ||
| What did you mean? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Greta, first, good morning. | |
| Listen, I am a resident of Washington, D.C. I've lived there for over 30 years. | ||
| So I speak from experience and not from an outside. | ||
| And I'm someone who frequents the neighborhood and my role as citizen journalism early in the morning. | ||
| I'm at all different locations around the city. | ||
| And I can tell you that homelessness, erratic crime, juvenile crime, crime at the Navy Yard and Southeast in the most underserved neighborhoods is just rampant. | ||
| I mean, juvenile crime. | ||
| And you had a D.C. city council that would fight with Mayor Mayor Bowser, who's truly a law enforcement mayor who wanted to put laws in place where this cashless bail and these other things and this recidivism where these kids go and they think they can be rehabilitated. | ||
| Yes, 90% of the kids can be rehabilitated, Greta. | ||
| But the problem is, is that 90% of the crimes are committed by at least 5% of these kids. | ||
| And you just keep putting these kids back out in the street and the crime becomes worse and worse and worse. | ||
| And so the mayor was at its wit's end, at her wit's end. | ||
| So whether or not President Trump made the right decision to bring in the National Guard, you may see that as being extreme, but the crime has become so extreme that you needed a measure to send a message to juvenile crime criminals, send a message to parents and communities that this cannot be tolerated. | ||
| There's been a lot of combativeness between the mayor and the president in the beginning because listen, the mayor has a lot of pride when it comes to home rule and the people she represents in the district, but she realizes she had a problem. | ||
| This is why just this week, she talked about the fact that carjacking and car theft is down by 87%. | ||
| Just think about this. | ||
| For 11 straight days, Greta, there was no murder in Washington, D.C. That's unprecedented and has not been heard of since the last five years. | ||
| That means someone walking the streets today are alive because of what you may consider as the president's extreme measure. | ||
| What do you do now? | ||
| You go back to the drawing board and you may say the mayor does not like the National Guard. | ||
| She doesn't see them as being effective. | ||
| She doesn't like the ICE arresting immigrants. | ||
| But as long as she and the president are communicated and there's not a war or words and they can work out a situation where you can lower crime, make communities safe and get this under control and put laws in place where you make these young people realize you got to be accountable and responsible for your crime. | ||
| I think that's a formula that not only DC would welcome, it's a formula that would be welcome across America. | ||
| Did you hear a change in tone from the DC mayor this week compared to how she first reacted to the president's decision? | ||
| And why do you think that was? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't think there's been a necessary a change in tone. | |
| I think Mrs. Bowser has always shown her willingness to meet with the president. | ||
| She did go to Bar-a-Lago right after Donald Trump was elected. | ||
| And just think about this. | ||
| And I want people to really listen to this. | ||
| When Barack Obama was president of the United States, not once did Mayor Bowser go to the White House for a meeting. | ||
| Since Donald Trump has been in as president, she's gone to the White House and Mar-a-Lago on many occasions. | ||
| The bottom line is when you're a mayor and you're a leader and you're elected by the people and you feel your authority is being threatened, you're going to fight back. | ||
| Donald Trump with his power as president of the United States wants to change and make D.C. a beautiful city again. | ||
| What has happened, sometimes there's going to be conflict. | ||
| There will be friction. | ||
| But as long as that friction leads to results where people are safer, I don't think people mind. | ||
| I don't think it's fair to criticize the mayor that she's changed the tone is that the mayor is becoming more wiser. | ||
| She's looking at the stats. | ||
| She's looking at the numbers. | ||
| And she also realizes that you and I can talk about the stats until the cows come home. | ||
| But what people more realize is what's happening where they are. | ||
| Are they safe? | ||
| Do they feel threatened by criminals? | ||
| Do they feel threatened in their homes? | ||
| Are there too many homicides? | ||
| Are there too many rapes? | ||
| And for her bottom line, it's about that she serves the people and she wants to allay their fears that she's doing something about crime. | ||
| And I think finally, after all this friction of a relationship, the mayor and the president has worked out a formula where they can work together for the greater good of the city. | ||
| Let's talk about the legality of this, Mr. Williams. | ||
| The Insurrection Act of 1807 says it authorizes the president to deploy armed forces or the National Guard domestically to suppress armed rebellions, riots, or other extreme circumstances. | ||
| Where is that happening in Washington, D.C.? | ||
| What would you point to that falls into that criteria of armed rebellion, riots, or other extreme circumstances? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I think anybody listening to this who lives in the district and living in places like Memphis and Chicago and other places where there's high crime and Baltimore City, and you're leading the world, I mean, in stats of homicide, I think that's an emergency situation. | |
| I think that's a situation that's out of control. | ||
| And that's a situation that warrants for some emergency action to take place. | ||
| And as I said, while this may seem extreme, it doesn't mean that it's going to be permanent. | ||
| You're just trying to work out a solution to get this crime under control and make sure that you don't have members of the city council, members of the legislature that's enacted legislation where you think you're protecting these young people. | ||
| And what you're doing is making their criminal behavior even more hard. | ||
| Today it's a car. | ||
| Tomorrow it's breaking in somebody's home. | ||
| Tomorrow it's rape and the next day it's homicide. | ||
| You've got to get this under control. | ||
| People deserve to be safe. | ||
| They pay their taxpayer dollars to make sure that law enforcement provides them with security. | ||
| They don't have the luxury of Capitol Hill where they have security and security barriers, the White House where they have fences and they're protected. | ||
| They depend on law enforcement and the leadership to protect them. | ||
| Well, sir, then if this is just a short-term solution, what happens when the National Guard leaves Washington, D.C.? | ||
| Is there a change in policy needed to address what you're talking about, which is juvenile crime? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think the mayor said it best. | |
| While they don't want the National Guard, more federal agents, the FBI, the DEA, because look, just think about this. | ||
| She is short of 800 police officers. | ||
| The same as in Baltimore and other major cities. | ||
| They lack the resource. | ||
| If the president can come in and sort of help them by deploying more federal resources to help them fight crime, then you can sustain what you're seeing now, where once the National Guard leaves and all of a sudden the criminals can come out of their home again and continue their criminal behavior. | ||
| You've got to go through this process. | ||
| And I think the mayor is smart enough. | ||
| I think Pamela Smith, our police chief, is smart enough and other mayors around the country to realize that the president is willing to invest more money and more resources. | ||
| You can figure out how this make, you can make this work to combat crime. | ||
| D.C. Resident Armstrong Williams, owner of the Baltimore Sun columnist, TV talk show host and entrepreneur is our guest here this morning on the Washington Journal. | ||
| We want you to join us for this conversation. | ||
| Here's how you can do so. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| D.C. residents. | ||
| We want to hear from you at 202-748-8003. | ||
| And remember, all of you can text at that same line, just include your first name, city, and state. | ||
| Mr. Williams, I want to play for you and our viewers. | ||
| The California governor, Gavin Newsom. | ||
| He held a news conference yesterday to talk about crime and the president deploying the National Guard. | ||
| He said the president needs to do so in some Republican states where he said crime was significantly worse than in California. | ||
| Here he is. | ||
| The carnage in Louisiana is well defined. | ||
| Of course, Mississippi leads the nation as the number one murder state in America. | ||
| Imagine this in particular may resonate with the president of the United States. | ||
| It's got a murder rate 180%, 180% higher than Los Angeles. | ||
| Interesting. | ||
| LA has more people. | ||
| These are all per capita numbers. | ||
| More people than Los Angeles. | ||
| Perhaps the president could deploy the National Guard in every corner of Mississippi. | ||
| It's the murder rate's out of control there. | ||
| Carnage. | ||
| And governor may want to make that phone call. | ||
| Again, this is if they care about the issues of crime and violence. | ||
| I would note St. Louis' murder rate is 190% larger than Oakland. | ||
| I can go on. | ||
| We could talk about the carnage in Arkansas, again, one of the top 10 murder states in America. | ||
| 2.5, 2.6 times greater than San Francisco. | ||
| Again, these are just not just observations. | ||
| They're stone-called facts. | ||
| And the fact remains, if the president is sincere about the issue of crime and violence, there's no question in my mind that he'll likely be sending the troops into Louisiana and Mississippi to address the just the unconscionable wave of violence that continues to plague those states. | ||
| Armstrong Williams responded to the governor there saying if the president is sincere, he'll send the National Guard into these other states, these Republican states. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, Greta, let's first acknowledge what the governor of California acknowledged in that clip. | |
| Murder, carnage, crime is out of control. | ||
| We know that the president did send the National Guard into Los Angeles, and the governor did everything he could in his power to fight it, even though the National Guard did lower crime. | ||
| I don't think the American people, Greta, at this day in time, care about red state, blue state, Democratic governor, Republican governor. | ||
| They care about a formula to fight crime. | ||
| If the governor of California is now saying, let us work with the president, because unlike the District of the Columbia, where the president has almost unlimited power, the president just cannot go into places like Maryland and Mississippi and these other places that the governor just mentioned unless the governors make the request. | ||
| So I think what Governor Newsom is doing now is facing reality that something needs to be done. | ||
| And so I embrace what Governor Newsom is saying. | ||
| Get away from these labels and let's just find a formula. | ||
| Let's find a process and legislation that works to get this crime under control, to make people safe in their communities across America. | ||
| We're going to go to Bill first, who's an Orange Park, Florida Democratic caller. | ||
| Good morning, Bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
No, I'm a Republican. | |
| Okay, you're a Republican. | ||
| Did you call on the Democratic line? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No, I didn't. | |
| I called on the Republican line. | ||
| All right, go ahead, Bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
But I heard a beep, so they might have been changing it. | |
| That was the beep when you're the beep that you hear is when you are now on television. | ||
| So go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
All right. | |
| Mr. Williams, I've been listening to you since I lived in Chicago. | ||
| That's been 25 years ago. | ||
| But I'll tell you, I can't believe all the crime in Chicago, and then nobody wants to do it. | ||
| But how long do you think it would be before the president sends troops to Chicago? | ||
| The people want it. | ||
| The mayor and the governor don't want it, but the people want it. | ||
| Mr. Williams. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, I have to tell you, what people believe today could be totally different than what they believe tomorrow. | |
| You know, just like Mayor Bowser, she could not see the results of what the president was intending to do when he first announced his cleaning up D.C. and not the fact that she's realizing results and how it's cleaning up crime and how the citizens are responding to it. | ||
| I think it's just a matter of time that if the governors don't use this example that the president and the mayor of Washington, D.C. are setting, you will find a revolt from people like yourself. | ||
| I think they will have no choice but to find a solution to crime. | ||
| It's so easy for people to be against something. | ||
| It's so easy to criticize President Trump and the maneuvers that he's making. | ||
| But he's doing something nobody else has been willing to do. | ||
| And guess what? | ||
| It's working. | ||
| We're not going to say it's going to work forever, but it at least gives us a chance to change the conversation. | ||
| How do we deal with these hard criminals and juveniles who don't have fathers in the household, who has no idea what moral striving is, have no ideas what right and wrong is, have no idea what it means to be a man. | ||
| They think they can just pick up a gun and just shoot somebody without having any conversation. | ||
| This is also a further indication of the breakdown of the famine. | ||
| And I will tell you, if this continues in Chicago and other places, it's just a matter of time where they get on board with what the president is doing. | ||
| It may not be the same as what the president was doing, but it will be much better than what they have in place now. | ||
| We showed you the California governor, Gavin Newsom, who some believe, political observers believe is positioning himself to run for president in 2028. | ||
| Let me show you, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, also speculation that he may run in 2028. | ||
| This is the governor earlier this week reacting to comments by the administration about the possibility of sending the National Guard to Chicago. | ||
| Here's what he had to say. | ||
| What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It is illegal. | |
| It is unconstitutional. | ||
| It is un-American. | ||
| No one from the White House or the executive branch has reached out to me or to the mayor. | ||
|
unidentified
|
No one has reached out to our staffs. | |
| No effort has been made to coordinate or to ask for our assistance in identifying any actions that might be helpful to us. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Local law enforcement has not been contacted. | |
| We have made no requests for federal intervention. | ||
| None. | ||
| We found out what Donald Trump was planning the same way that all of you did. | ||
| We read a story in the Washington Post. | ||
| If this was really about fighting crime and making the streets safe, what possible justification could the White House have for planning such an exceptional action without any conversations or consultations with the governor, the mayor, or the police? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Let me answer that question. | |
| This is not about fighting crime. | ||
| This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city, in a blue state, to try and intimidate his political rivals. | ||
| This is about the president of the United States and his complicit lackey, Stephen Miller, searching for ways to lay the groundwork to circumvent our democracy, militarize our cities, and end elections. | ||
| Armstrong Williams will respond to the governor's allegation there at the end. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think Governor Priscilla makes an excellent point. | |
| There must be a process. | ||
| If you really want this to work and to work well, the president and the White House owes these governors and these mayors the respect to say, how can we come and help you? | ||
| How can we help you where people are not intimidated and live in fear? | ||
| What process can we put in place to work together? | ||
| I do believe the president is very sincere about fighting crime. | ||
| This is something he said he would do when he was running for president. | ||
| You know, it's so easy to call names. | ||
| And I do think the White House should reach out and make an effort not only in Illinois, but in Maryland and other places, Tennessee, where this high crime exists and work with these governors, work with these legislatures, work with law enforcement to coordinate this effort, because I think it works best for everyone in the long run. | ||
| All right, Williams in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, Democratic color. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I agree with what Mr. Williams is actually saying that crime is high and it is high in a lot of regions that I guess with, you know, as a Democrat and the Democrats that are running the cities, it is kind of, it should be even a little bit of an embarrassment. | ||
| But if Trump is taking the initiative to go ahead and lower this crime down, that yes, I agree with what Mr. Williams is saying. | ||
| They should find some kind of format, some kind of way to come to council and do this for not just, you know, not just because they think they're being embarrassed, but because of the fact that your constituents want to be safe. | ||
| They want to sit up there and live in peaceful cities. | ||
| They want to have environments where we all learn how to become neighbors. | ||
| And yes, using the military, they're like the front line behind the real police that you have. | ||
| But at the same time, you can't have everyday citizens that won't speak up when they do see the crime. | ||
| So sometimes maybe this is another way they can find a way to sit up there and help parents, parents, their children, at the same time, help communities learn how to get some of these criminals out of the areas that are hotspots. | ||
| Mr. Williams. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So listen, Brett, the point is the American people, Americans like myself and like you, we don't care about the politics of this. | |
| We don't care about the war worst, like the gentleman just said. | ||
| Come together and lower the crime. | ||
| We can talk about all the stats. | ||
| We can talk about homicide being down. | ||
| But in your life, the reality is that you're seeing crime every day. | ||
| These innocent little babies died in Minneapolis this week and injured for no reason at all. | ||
| Maybe, you know, my cousin was Femente Pinney, who died in that Charleston massacre. | ||
| And I will tell you this, after that happened and what happened when they were shooting in churches, churches have hired private security. | ||
| You don't see them, there are, but on Sundays, they're paroling the parking lot. | ||
| They're looking for signs. | ||
| They're looking for something that is out of place and they want to put a stop to it because they don't want parishioners in there worshiping God to die. | ||
| Because listen, Greta, no place is sacred anymore. | ||
| If you can have, whether it's the military, whether it's the DEA or whatever you call it, if you can have it in place to protect people in their communities, who in their right mind is going to fight this? | ||
| And today, people don't care about your being a Democrat, a Republican. | ||
| They want you to get this crime under control because I'm telling you, the reality is that people across this country don't feel safe. | ||
| We'll go to Lancaster, Virginia. | ||
| James, a Republican. | ||
| Morning, James. | ||
| Question or comment here for Armstrong Williams. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Both. | |
| Mr. Williams, we're pretty much on the same page. | ||
| And as a Republican, I get Democrat props. | ||
| And Mayor Bowser could be a Democratic national leader the way she has stood up and handled this with Trump and the crime. | ||
| But what I'm confused by is why are so many Democrats against fighting crime? | ||
| I don't understand that. | ||
| And the only thing I disagree with you on is I don't think it's up to President Trump to ask Spitzer and Newsom and the rest of these guys for do they need help. | ||
| If your ship is sinking, you do a May Day. | ||
| You ask for help. | ||
| If you're plain in fashion, you do a May Day. | ||
| James, do you... | ||
|
unidentified
|
And these governors are not doing it. | |
| James, do you... | ||
| James, do you agree with the California governor that the president should send in the National Guard to these Republican states as well? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, I agree. | |
| I lived in Memphis. | ||
| Oh, I lived in Memphis, and I can tell you stories about Memphis. | ||
| Memphis went down the hill once they elected that new mayor years ago. | ||
| And I lived there. | ||
| It just went down the tube. | ||
| And crime is, I got friends live in Memphis. | ||
| They don't leave the house when the sun goes down. | ||
| Memphis, when I moved there back in 1989, Memphis, and I lived all around the world, Memphis was the best city I ever lived in my life until the mid-90s, late 90s. | ||
| Oh, my Lord, the crime was outrageous. | ||
| I do have one comment from Mr. Williams if I got to hang up. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Can you tell me real quick? | ||
| Can he tell me what, not the politicians, what do the local constituents feel about the crime going down? | ||
| Because they don't say anything because they don't want me scarlet letters that they agree with Trump. | ||
| But what are you getting advice from the locals that live in D.C. and how they feel about it? | ||
| Other than that, this is a great conversation because I live in Virginia. | ||
| I've been through D.C. a million times and I'm a truck driver. | ||
| I'll knock my doors. | ||
| All right, James. | ||
| Armstrong Williams. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, James, you know, this is why my recent Baltimore Sun editorial talked about the fact that the solid majority in Washington, D.C., they don't want to speak out. | |
| They don't need to be seen. | ||
| But they are applauding the efforts of the president. | ||
| Not only are they safer, the city is cleaner. | ||
| Union Station looks like a place out of the Twilight Zone. | ||
| You're not here smelling marijuana. | ||
| You're not seeing homeless people with needles. | ||
| You just don't, you don't see that ugliness about D.C. | ||
| They remove these homeless camps. | ||
| And I know people talk about the National Guard and the National Guard, they've been moving trash. | ||
| They've been washing away graffiti. | ||
| They've used them in different roles. | ||
| But what other people don't realize is that the Park Police once had 200 employees to go around and clean up the city, but that number is only 20 now. | ||
| They only have 20 employees that will deploy to clean up the city. | ||
| So what they're using the resources of the National Guard is to also clean up the city as well. | ||
| And the point about where you disagree with me, Pritzker, you and I don't really disagree. | ||
| You and I know that it's almost epidemic what's going on in crime, but you need to respect the process. | ||
| Why give people ammunition to criticize you and fight against you? | ||
| What you want to do, show respect to the people that are like that. | ||
| Say, let's work together and let's work for the greater good of the people that are being impacted by this more than anyone else. | ||
| Mr. Williams, Republicans are in control of the purse strings in Congress, in the House and the Senate. | ||
| Do they need to give DC more money in the annual appropriations bill to increase services in the city? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think the president just recently requested an additional $800 million in the budget to clean up Washington, D.C. | |
| And because the president has a trifecta, the White House, the House, and the Senate, I've seen very little, there's very little sign that what Donald Trump wants, he does not get when it comes from the Republican House. | ||
| So I'm pretty sure that if that's what the president wants, it's exactly what he will get. | ||
| Hamilton's in York, Pennsylvania, Independent. | ||
| Welcome, Hamilton. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks for having me on. | |
| I was a SBO, a citizen special police officer downtown D.C. | ||
| And I've seen Mr. Williams many times. | ||
| He's more or less a Republican apologist on everything. | ||
| If Donald Trump was serious about doing that, he would allot the funds that you said and build up the police force that's existing instead of sending the National Guard. | ||
| The National Guard is around the monuments and different things, but the crime is out in Southeast. | ||
| It's out in the parts of D.C. that they're not going. | ||
| So how is having the National Guard with the armed National Guard running around capitals when the crime is out in the impoverished neighborhoods where the money is not getting into? | ||
| How is that going to help at all? | ||
| Because you asked that, Mr. Williams. | ||
| Well, it's a little different when you have members of the city council that don't want the National Guard in their neighborhoods and then they fight against it. | ||
| But to say that the National Guard is not in Southeast is not true. | ||
| The National Guard is in Southeast. | ||
| I've had people live in Southeast that have sent me video and photos of how the city and their neighborhoods have been cleaned up. | ||
| People are just startled by it. | ||
| Maybe it has not been deployed every place where there are these crime areas and these processes are in place. | ||
| And maybe DEA and the FBI and other law enforcement agencies will go in these areas. | ||
| You know, you can always find room to criticize if that's what you choose to do. | ||
| But yet, you cannot ignore the fact that there are a lot of neighborhoods that were underserved in Washington, D.C. three weeks ago that are much safer from crime and violence today. | ||
| We'll go to Laurel, Maryland. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Josh, Democratic caller. | |
| Yes, hi. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| As someone who was a school teacher in Northeast, I was a school teacher at Kenilworth Elementary in the early 2000s and who's grown up just outside of D.C. in Silver Spring. | ||
| I know for a fact that like police action and even such as the National Guard is a stopgap measure. | ||
| It's not an actual solution. | ||
| Marion Barry's jobs program in the 80s probably saved more lives than any single police action. | ||
| And it's certainly not necessarily a crime problem. | ||
| It's a crime problem because of a resource problem, what's available to the residents. | ||
| So when D.C.'s budget gets nixed by the Republican Congress, which is beholden to Trump, by over a billion dollars, and they raise plenty of tax revenue, but then we have these overbearing policies. | ||
| To me, there seems to be a humongous disconnect. | ||
| Yeah, Josh is referring to the most recent action by this Republican Congress to cut D.C.'s budget by a billion dollars. | ||
| Armstrong Williams? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know what's kind of fascinating about this line of discussion now? | |
| It doesn't matter who is in power, whether it's President Obama, the Bushes, the Clintons, the Bidens, or Trump. | ||
| This problem persists. | ||
| It doesn't matter if they had enough money. | ||
| They did not have enough money. | ||
| This problem persists. | ||
| This problem hasn't gotten any better. | ||
| It's gotten worse. | ||
| We'll go to John next in Washington, D.C. John. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, Mr. Williams talks a lot about crime in the city, but the biggest crime is that we don't have statehood here in the same rights as other Americans. | |
| I haven't heard him mention that once, but just to mention a few things, there is no emergency. | ||
| People here have been fighting crime for years and it's going down. | ||
| But more importantly, does he really want to try 14-year-olds as adults instead of giving them a job? | ||
| I mean, is that really going to reduce crime? | ||
| But that's what the president and Jeanine Shapiro propose. | ||
| So the mayor never asked for this help. | ||
| There is no cooperation. | ||
| She's trying to get along with the president because she doesn't want even worse things to happen to DC residents. | ||
| But really, this is not necessary. | ||
| The people from the Guard should wait for an emergency in their own state or somewhere else and go there. | ||
| They don't need to be here. | ||
| And by the way, I haven't seen them in Southeast. | ||
| That's where I live. | ||
| I saw them at Union Station yesterday. | ||
| I saw them on the Metro, but they weren't doing very much because that's not where the crime is in the city. | ||
| So, Mr. Armstrong, better get a better understanding of what D.C. is really about before he comes on and talks about it again. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Mr. Williams. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So, all of us are shaped by our perceptions, our experiences, what we're exposed to. | |
| Like the caller, I live in a neighborhood where I don't concern myself with crime, and I can isolate myself and say crime does not exist. | ||
| We don't need the National Guard. | ||
| But for someone who's a broadcast and a newspaper owner who talks to so many people every day, go to so many different communities and neighborhoods, they tell me something quite different from my experience. | ||
| So, because my experience is not one of crime and feeling insecure and living in fear, does that mean that is their experiences also? | ||
| No, you have to take everybody's experience and how they live. | ||
| No different than the young lady that works for NTD, who was a White House reporter who two years ago was walking out of a neighborhood and somebody walked out and accoused her and beat her with their pistol. | ||
| And she was traumatized. | ||
| I mean, people have different experiences. | ||
| It's certainly not mine. | ||
| And then there are people who are able to have security and live in nice neighborhoods. | ||
| But that's not the majority of the people that live in these cities. | ||
| I will tell you, Greta, from my experiences and talking to people and sharing their day-to-day lives in Washington, D.C., crime is a real threat. | ||
| I think it is the number one issue on their mind. | ||
| It leads to stress, it leads to depression, it leads to fear, it leads to not having real relationships with your own community because the trust has been breached. | ||
| I mean, it impacts everything. | ||
| So, this so to say that Donald Trump is missing the boat and the mayor is being coerced because there's not a crime problem in Washington, D.C., I would say that caller is really out of touch with reality. | ||
| Michael's next in Folsom, Pennsylvania, Republican caller. | ||
| Hi, Michael. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, good morning. | |
| And Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Williams, I respect and admire you for years and years. | ||
| But this question is for you, Greta. | ||
| You had Governor Newsom, you know, we said all the last, you know, Democratics too. | ||
| And Judge Granbaugh tried the same thing. | ||
| He went through all the red states and saying they have the most crime of anybody. | ||
| But what he didn't mention was the cities in the states, which are all run by Democratic mayors. | ||
| And that's where all the crime is. | ||
| So I don't know if you knew, you know, Governor Newsom was trying to pull a war over your eyes, but that's the truth. | ||
| So I investigated a little more before I put him on and give him any credibility. | ||
| All right, Michael's opinion there. | ||
| We'll go to Cam in Frederick, Maryland, Independent. | ||
| Cam, you're next. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I'm here. | |
| Yes, I'm here. | ||
| Cam from Frederick, Maryland. | ||
| I was born and raised in Washington, D.C. | ||
| I actually was a juvenile that was got in trouble in the system when I was young as well. | ||
| And I can relate to all the young people in Washington, D.C. | ||
| The problem is everybody's missing the point. | ||
| You have to look at the root of the problem. | ||
| The root of the problem is their predecessors, predecessors were treated unfairly, mistreated, and oppressed and never received reparations. | ||
| The Japanese receive reparations. | ||
| Jewish receive reparations. | ||
| Indians receive reparations. | ||
| The young African-American men in Washington, D.C. never received reparations. | ||
| So they've been dealt an unfair hand. | ||
| We have a president that'll take $4 million to put up racist Confederate statues that foundation is the cornerstone speech. | ||
| $4 million. | ||
| But we can't take these young kids from the age of 12 to they turn 21 and give them a $100, $150 stipend if their parents are making under $150,000 a year when they've been dealt an unfair hand. | ||
| For every action, there's a reaction. | ||
| There's a cause and effect. | ||
| What you see in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore was exactly what they want to happen and what they want to be. | ||
| It's the young African-American community. | ||
| It's nobody. | ||
| Cam, let's have Armstrong Williams respond to your argument here about reparations. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Listen, I know so many Americans who happen to be black that also did not receive reparations. | |
| They're not committing crime. | ||
| They're not the lowest common denominator of their communities. | ||
| They work hard to make sure that their children are educated. | ||
| They work hard to make sure that their children are disciplined and respect their neighbors. | ||
| They work hard to make sure that the kids have the skill set so when they do graduate from high school and college, they can find a real job and they don't end up in the penal system. | ||
| They don't end up prostituting themselves. | ||
| They don't end up suffering from depression because they have no self-worth because they realize the school system robbed them and cheated them because they didn't give them a real education. | ||
| They cannot read. | ||
| They cannot write. | ||
| They cannot do basic arithmetic. | ||
| I know families every day who come from abject poverty, but they still give their children the best and their children don't cave in to crime in this culture. | ||
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal, our live forum inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington and across the country. | ||
| Coming up this morning, the president and co-founder of the Institute for the American Worker, Vincent Vernuccio, talks about the Trump administration's approach to labor-related issues. | ||
| Then the co-chair of Small Business for America's Future, Shondell Newsome, on the state of small-scale enterprise in the U.S. C-SPAN's Washington Journal. | ||
| Join in the conversation live at 7 Eastern this morning on C-SPAN. | ||
| C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app or online at c-span.org. | ||
| On Monday, Labor Day, watch C-SPAN for an all-day congressional town hall marathon. | ||
| Hear from lawmakers directly as they discuss their legislative priorities, comment on recent actions by the Trump administration, and address questions and concerns raised by constituents. | ||
| The Congressional Town Hall Marathon begins at 10 a.m. Eastern and features Oklahoma Republican Congressman Josh Perkin, Texas Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, Nebraska Republican Congressman Mike Flood, Maryland Democrat Senator Angela Also Brooks, along with Congresswoman April McLean Delaney, sharing the same stage, and many more. | ||
| Watch the Congressional Town Hall All-Day Marathon on Monday, Labor Day, at 10 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN or online at cspan.org. | ||
| This fall, C-SPAN invites you on a powerful journey through the stories that define a nation. | ||
| From the halls of our nation's most iconic libraries comes America's Book Club, a bold, original series where ideas, history, and democracy meet. | ||
| Hosted by renowned author and civic leader David Rubinstein, each week features in-depth conversations with the thinkers shaping our national story. | ||
| Among this season's remarkable guests, John Grisham, master storyteller of the American justice system. | ||
| Justice Amy Coney Barrett, exploring the Constitution, the court, and the role of law in American life. | ||
| Famed chef and global relief entrepreneur Jose Andres, reimagining food. | ||
| Henry Louis Gates, chronicler of race, identity, and the American experience. | ||
| The books, the voices, the places that preserve our past and spark the ideas that will shape our future. | ||
| America's Book Club, premiering this fall only on C-SPAN. | ||
| C-SPAN, democracy unfiltered. | ||
| We're funded by these television companies and more, including Mediacom. | ||
| This is binging, that's buffering. | ||
| This is a meetup, that's a freeze-up, power home, power struggle, security detection, no protection. | ||
| You can have this or you can have that. | ||
| This is Mediacom, and this is where it's at. | ||
| Mediacom supports C-SPAN as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front-row seat to democracy. | ||
| Next, the UN Security Council, holding an emergency meeting on the war between Russia and Ukraine at the request of Ukraine and the five European Security Council members, Britain, France, Slovenia, Denmark, and Greece. | ||
| The meeting follows Russia's latest barrage of around 630 drone and missile attacks against Ukraine on August 28th, which killed at least 23 people in Kyiv, including four children, and injured more than 60. |