Pete Hegseth: Democratic leaders are 'capitulating' to anarchists, destructive forces

Democratic leaders in cities with high crime rates are consistently capitulating to anarchists and destructive forces, "Fox & Friends Weekend" co-host Pete Hegseth pointed out Friday.

In an interview on "Fox & Friends" with hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade, Hegseth said he agreed with President Trump's comments during Thursday night's town hall with Sean Hannity. 

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The president tore into cities like Oakland, Chicago, and Baltimore – comparing some to Afghanistan and Honduras.

Trump also blamed the mayors of those cities – all of them Democrats – along with former President Barack Obama and the party’s presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden – for the high rates of homicide and other violent crimes.

"Chicago is an example, it is worse than Afghanistan," Trump told Hannity. "These cities, it’s like living in Hell."

"He’s not wrong," Hegseth remarked. "I mean, listen, one of the biggest lies -- the left uses big lies. One of the biggest lies they are telling us is that American society is infected with systemic racism. We are all secretly racists. And, everyone around the corner still harbors racist feelings."

"But, if you look at these Democrat-controlled cities, many of them have black mayors, black police chiefs, black governors, black attorney generals who have wonderfully been elected by the people to fix those very places. If those places are systemically racist, then are their leaders perpetuating that?" he asked. "Are they not able to fix it?"

"And, why is it that every one of these hot spots is run by Democrats who are effectively capitulating to Antifa, capitulating to Black Lives Matter, anarchists and arsonists who are burning down buildings, and they’re not doing anything about it?" Hegseth added. 

"When you’re complicit with it and can't confront it, of course it gets worse," he concluded. "So, the problem is there is only so much the president can do at the federal level."

Chicago, in particular, has become a target for the president's criticism, especially after the city reached a grim milestone late last month when it saw 18 murders in one day – making May 31 the city’s deadliest day in 60 years. In addition, over Father's Day weekend, the city counted 104 shootings with 14 dead. 

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However, that said, the murder rate in Chicago has dropped over the past few years. The country’s third-largest city saw 490 murders in 2019 – a 13 percent drop from the 564 in 2018 and a 35 percent drop since the 756 in 2016 when Chicago reported its highest number of homicides in two decades.

Both Baltimore and Detroit – two much smaller cities than Chicago – have seen their murder rates rise in 2020, with Baltimore recording 159 murders to date and Detroit seeing a 30-percent increase in homicides as of June 18 with 129 killings.

Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.