CNN Panel Pushes Back Against Guest Who Says Rising Crime Is ‘A Ratings Thing’

 

CNN panelists pushed back Saturday against a guest who said rising crime is “a ratings thing.”

Washington D.C.’s city council unanimously approved a bill on Tuesday to backtrack on liberal reforms followed by a surge in homicides. CNN panelist Kara Swisher said that rising crime in U.S. cities was just “a ratings thing,” sparking immediate rebuttal from fellow panelists on “Who’s Talking with Chris Wallace?”

“D.C. is really bad, it’s really bad. And I think coming out of the pandemic, people just felt like something was off. You know, homelessness was a big problem here in D.C. and in other cities,” CNN panelist Sarah Longwell said. “I will say, listening to voters, they think the cities are third-world countries. Like some of this also comes from the political culture right now, where crime is a big issue, Republicans have been talking about it. And it’s been, um, I think talked about in such a hyperbolic way—”

“By whom? By who?” Swisher interjected. “What station?”

“By Fox News,” Longwell replied.

“They just went on. It was so — if you went to San Francisco, you’re like, ‘What are you talking about?’” Swisher said. “This is just, it’s, we have problems, but it’s not this. They just made it into a ratings thing. They just kept saying, this and — it’s just not true!”

The “Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024” was passed after homicides in D.C. hit their highest point in 25 years, according to Axios. The city was among many that defunded its police force in 2020 following the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that opposed law enforcement agencies.

“I think that’s true, but I also think there was a carjacking on my street, um, yesterday. D.C. is, you know, there are cities where there are problems, and also, by the way, you know, we talk about carjackings as if, like, ‘Oh, well it’s not murder.’ Nobody likes to have a gun put in their face and their car stolen!” CNN panelist Lulu Garcia-Navarro said.

“And D.C. in particular did have its highest homicide rate in 26 years in 2023,” CNN panelist John McCormack added. “There’s been, I think, a slight improvement where only—”

“D.C. is an outlier, but yes,” Navarro interrupted.

“We just had the D.C. attorney general say, ‘You can’t prosecute or arrest your way out of this carjacking problem.’” McCormack continued. “Well, I think you can, actually.”