(NewsNation) — Chris Cuomo and Bill O’Reilly disagree on whether race is a factor in the Trump administration’s crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C.
O’Reilly, the host of “No Spin News,” joined “CUOMO” on Wednesday to discuss the deployment of the National Guard in urban areas of the nation’s capital.
“The reason the National Guard and the FBI and the marshals are in D.C. is because President Trump is personally offended by the look of the city and the tone of the city. Simple as that, there’s nothing to do with race,” O’Reilly said.
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He described the insertion of race into the discussion as “the usual phony garbage.”
Cuomo argued it “of course” has to do with race, given, in his opinion, America will often “confuse criminality with race.”
“I keep hearing black people commit more crimes; Why and what kind of crimes, and what are the circumstances, and what changes it? That’s the conversation to have. We’re not having it,” Cuomo said.
“But this works politically for the president. Also, you cannot run away from the fact that crime is down in D.C .in measurable ways more than most urban centers over the same period in the last three years.”
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Cuomo and O’Reilly did agree there are cities with worse crime issues than D.C., but O’Reilly suggested the likes of San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago all had commonalities.
“Progressive leadership does not believe in punishing mini crimes … If you create social disorder, you’re punished. Progressives do not believe that.
“The Guard and the other people are a blanket of protection. That means that the real bad guys won’t come out anymore,” he added.
O’Reilly believes the presence of the National Guard ultimately has a simple explanation.
“There is disorder in the nation’s capital. It offends Trump. Trump has the power to reverse it. He will reverse it. That’s the story,” he said.
