Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews issued a blunt warning to his own party on Wednesday, saying Democrats are “falling into the trap” by opposing President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Washington, D.C. crime. Matthews argued that in pushing back against Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and his federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Democrats are defending the indefensible — and setting themselves up for a political beating.

Trump announced his crime emergency order just days after Department of Government Efficiency staffer Edward “Big Balls” Coristine was seriously injured while stopping a carjacking. The move drew applause from many in rural and suburban America, where concerns about urban crime have been steadily growing. Matthews, speaking with “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, acknowledged that Trump understands how to use those fears to his advantage.

“I love D.C. I think it’s a beautiful city,” Matthews said, describing his early-morning commutes past landmarks like the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument. But he also pointed to visible homelessness, graffiti on historic bridges, and a general decline in the city’s image as the kind of visuals that resonate with voters outside big cities. “I think this is about the suburbs and the rural areas against the big cities,” he said. “I think Trump knows that people are afraid to go into big cities… They don’t trust the situation.”

Matthews noted that recent high-profile crimes — including the murder of Republican congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym in June and the May shooting that killed two Israeli embassy officials — have only reinforced perceptions that the capital is unsafe. Even Democratic Rep. Angie Craig was assaulted in her own apartment last year. “You need a tougher DA,” Matthews said. “You just do. To put people in jail. But the crime is inevitably committed by working people… They’re the ones getting hit by crime, not the suburbanites.”

Matthews argued that Democrats weaken their case when they claim crime is down, especially when murder rates remain elevated. “You can’t keep saying violent crime is down with the murder rates up,” he said. “To the average person, the murders are about life and death. You don’t brag about a rising murder rate. And the Democrats are… defending what’s indefensible.”

While D.C. officials have touted a roughly one-third drop in violent crime, FBI data shows only a 10% decline since 2024 — and the MPD’s numbers exclude aggravated and felony assaults, which Washington law still defines as violent crimes. The credibility of those statistics has also been undermined by the suspension of a high-ranking MPD official over alleged manipulation of crime data.

Matthews, who often clashed with Trump during his MSNBC tenure, appeared to acknowledge that the president’s latest move plays directly into his law-and-order brand. “I think this is a strength move against the big cities who are in a difficult situation on crime,” Matthews said, adding that Democrats risk looking out of touch by insisting the problem is overblown.

For Trump, the optics are straightforward — the capital city, home to the nation’s lawmakers and political elite, is under federal control because local leaders failed to keep it safe. For Matthews, the political danger for Democrats is just as clear: Trump is setting the stage for 2026 by making himself the candidate who acted, while painting his opponents as the ones who looked away.