‘Morning Joe’ panelist suggests National Guard will be ‘frightened’ by DC streets

MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle claimed Monday that armed National Guard personnel in the District of Columbia would be a “disaster waiting to happen.”

Trump announced a federal takeover of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to combat crime in the District of Columbia on August 11, days after Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer Edward Coristine, known by the moniker “Big Balls,” was severely injured when he attempted to stop a mob from carrying out a carjacking. Barnicle claimed that because the National Guard wasn’t in “high-crime areas,” it wouldn’t make a difference.

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“The D.C. Police Department has about 3,400 sworn officers on the streets. There are about 400 under where they should be, 3,800, 3,900 in terms of hiring,” Barnicle claimed. “They can’t hire because they’re out of money, they’re not getting any money from the federal government because the federal government has now employed National Guardspeople. And to all of our points, especially your point, the one that you raised, if you could have Wheeler Road in southeast Washington and Acosta, you’re not going to see the National Guard.”

“And those high crime areas, they’re not going to be there. And it’s a sad case when you have National Guardsmen patrolling streets like in Georgetown or whatever, or central Washington, D.C., which is quite active, quite thriving, restaurants and everything, businesses off in those, and now they’re strapped with pistols on leg holsters,” Barnicle continued. “These are largely weekend people who train maybe once a month, many of them not from urban areas. Many of them would be frightened by what might happen on the streets. This is a disaster waiting to happen. And the idea of sending the National Guard to Baltimore or Chicago is beyond outrageous for similar reasons.”

Trump criticized Democratic Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland over crime in Baltimore in a Sunday post on Truth Social, in which he said that he would send the National Guard if Moore “needs help” to address the “out of control, crime ridden” city. Trump made a similar comment about Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago in a Monday post on Truth Social.

Since Trump launched the crackdown in the nation’s capital, 1,007 arrests have been made and 111 guns have been seized, according to a Monday post on X by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

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