MSNBC contributor voices alarm on DC crime, says issue is 'personal' and many are frustrated

An MSNBC contributor admitted Wednesday that "many people" in Washington, D.C., are "frustrated with crime." 

"And I live in Washington," said the network's justice and legal affairs analyst Anthony Coley on Wednesday's "Morning Joe," adding, "This is personal for me."

"But the response here - and you know, let me say this, right, these are not just random anecdotes," Coley said. "What we see in Washington Post polling, among others, is that roughly half of D.C. residents, mostly half of D.C. residents, view this as a serious problem or an extremely serious problem."

On Tuesday, however, "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough said that some in the liberal media were not being completely honest about their concerns regarding crime in D.C. 

"This is interesting," Scarborough said. "I actually heard from a reporter when this happened, going, 'Well, you know, if he doesn't overreach, this could actually be a good thing for quality of life,' etc., because in D.C. right now, I had this happen to my family and I had that, and they go down the list. And then I saw him tweet something completely different."

Later in the segment, however, Coley said that Trump's response was excessive. 

"Now, having said all of that, I want to be clear that this does not justify the disproportionate response that we are seeing from Donald Trump," Coley said. "It is a political stunt. He is exploiting people's fears. But to be frank, Democrats on the D.C. Council have created this political opening that allows him to do that."

Coley added, "Now, I'm not naive, Willie. I suspect that even if juvenile crime wasn't a problem, Donald Trump would have taken the actions that we have seen in recent days. But from a raw political perspective, you never want to give your political opponent an opening to address the needs that many of your constituents have. And that's what we're seeing playing out right now.