President Says Some Homeless People ‘Like Living That Way’
President Donald Trump in a strange and rambling interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson says that homelessness, primarily in Democratic-run cities, in a brand new problem.
“It’s a phenomenon that started two years ago,” Trump told Carlson. “It’s disgraceful. I’m going to maybe—I am looking at it very seriously, we’re doing some other things as you probably notice like some of the very important things that we’re doing now, but we’re looking at it very seriously because you can’t do that.”
Calling the problem of homelessness “inappropriate,” and “disgraceful,” the President made clear his concern is not actually for the people – who in large numbers are veterans and LGBTQ youth. Instead, he cares about how homeless people make cities look, and the impact they have on local law enforcement officers.
“You can’t have what’s happening—where police officers are getting sick just by walking the beat,” Trump continued. “I mean, they’re getting actually very sick, where people are getting sick, where the people living there are living in hell, too.”
And while he seemed to understand that mental health issues are part of the reason some people become homeless, he was happier to blame “liberal establishment” and Democrats.
“Some of them,” he said, referring to homeless people, “have mental problems so they don’t even know they’re living that way – in fact, perhaps, they like living that way.”
“So we’re looking at it very seriously,” Trump concluded. “We may intercede. We may do something to get that whole thing cleaned up. It’s inappropriate.”
The Daily Beast notes that tying homelessness to Democrats is a regular Fox News focus.
“Tucker Carlson got the president to weigh in on a topic that he and other Fox News hosts have devoted copious amounts of airtime to lately—homelessness in largely Democratic-run cities and states.”
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