WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): President Donald Trump says urban crime is a national emergency. But as Trump deploys the National Guard in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and likely Chicago, some Tennessee voters may wonder, why not here? Memphis and Nashville are both among the top 10 cities for violent crime based on last year's FBI data. So, why does Tennessee get a pass?With us to talk about that is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Good to be back.
BLANK: Well, Otis, the FBI director called Memphis the "homicide capital" of the USA. How has Gov. Bill Lee escaped Trump's notice and shouldn't the same standards apply to Tennessee as California?
SANFORD: Well, first of all, I don't think the governor has escaped, yet. The president did mention a few days ago on a radio program that he's looking at Memphis as a possible place to send troops. And the governor has been flip-flopping on this issue. He first said he had no plans to send troops here. But then this week, he backtracked because of, I think, some pressure from Sen. Marsha Blackburn and the president. So the governor's not showing a lot of leadership here on this. Let's just be honest: all of this is subterfuge and it's a distraction to get people people talking about crime and not any other things that would embarrass the president.
BLANK: And I think you're talking about the Jeffrey Epstein issue, which you can't really get away from at this moment.
SANFORD: No, you can't. But he wants to change the subject and the best way to change the subject is to talk about crime because people can relate to crime and they think that he's crime fighting. So this is all a distraction. Everybody knows that major cities have crime problems. We've had it for years. Memphis was the murder capital of the country back in 1916. So, this is nothing new, but this is a distraction.
BLANK: Okay, well, I'm distracted. And let's say I'm listening to Republicans like Sen. Marsha Blackburn, like you said. Now, she's running for governor, and she's been demanding troops to come to what she calls "lawless" Memphis. And then there's Congressman Andy Ogles in Middle Tennessee asking for troops in Nashville. Why aren't they here yet, with all these powerful people calling for it?
SANFORD: Sen. Blackburn is just parroting Donald Trump, and she's trying to score some very conservative political points. And the best way to do that in Tennessee is to trash Memphis. And to call Memphis as being controlled by a bunch of "leftist" officials. Well, I don't know how Mayor Paul Young likes being called a leftist, but this is all talk. Andy Ogles is doing the same thing. He can't stand the mayor of Nashville, Freddie O'Connell. And so they will do and say anything to score some political points.
BLANK: We have seen videos of what the soldiers are up to in Washington. They're guarding tourists areas and they're picking up litter and mowing the grass. One thing they're not really doing, according to the White House, is arresting people. They aren't cops. On one hand, I can see how federal troops in a city is bad publicity. On the other: free landscaping. So, why wouldn't the Bluff City call this bluff; you know, get those old tires cleaned up by America's troops?
SANFORD: Well, now, if you look at it that way, if you feel that's an effective use of the National Guard, then so be it. But I say it is an absolute travesty using the military for things like that. It's just pathetic really.
BLANK: Well, what do you think is going to happen? Do you think Bill Lee is going to cave to pressure to get troops here or do you think he's just going to try to thread this kind of political needle?
SANFORD: The fact is, the specific number of homicides in Memphis has gone down this year over last year, and it was lower last year than the year before. So there is no need for troops to be in Memphis. I think what's going to happen here is that nothing is going to happen in Memphis. This president likes to pick fights and he loves to pick fights with people that will help him politically. So he's going to continue to fight against the governor of Illinois, the mayor of Chicago, the governor of Maryland, the mayor of Baltimore, and so he's going to spend his time on that and not worry so much about coming into Memphis right now because he can't pick a fight with Bill Lee, because Bill Lee will kowtow to anything that he says. And he's not going to be able to pick a fight with Marsha Blackburn because Marsha Blackburn marches to his tune. So he can't create controversy in Tennessee the way he can create controversy in Illinois and also in Maryland. Now, he's also been talking about Louisiana, but he's not going to pick that much of a fight there. So I don't think anything is going to happen in Memphis and probably not even in Nashville because it doesn't suit this president and his desire to create controversy.
