While speaking to reporters Monday, the president balked when asked whether he would consider sending National Guard troops to Republican-led cities and states that experience high rates of crime.
"Sure, but there aren't that many of them," Trump said. "If you look at the top twenty-five cities for crime, just about every one of those cities is run by Democrats."
In Newsweek's recent list of the 30 U.S. cities (with at least 100,000 residents) that had the highest number of violent crimes against people, 16 -- more than half -- of those cities were in certifiably red states. These included Tennessee, Ohio, Arkansas, Texas, South Carolina, Missouri, Utah, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.
Four of those states were among the six to send National Guard troops to Washington D.C., which was notably absent from the recent list of the most crime-ridden cities.