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Republican Pennsylvania Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz says his “diagnosis” to the rising crime plaguing his state places blame squarely on his “radical” Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, for creating the conditions for criminal activity to prosper.
In an interview this week with Fox News Digital, Oz asserted that instances of violent crime, as well as events like the ransacking of a Wawa gas station by a mob of people over the weekend, were now “normalized,” and described such occurrences as a “cancer” to society.
“We’ve normalized thoughtless, destructive criminal acts. The question you ask in the morning is how many homicides happened last night? It’s not, was there a murder? It’s crazy that it’s become that commonplace. And the lawlessness – and that’s what this is about – is like a cancer,” he said.
For his sharp approach to crime that has skyrocketed in cities like Philadelphia, which saw a shooting of four high school students on Tuesday, Oz was endorsed by the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police. Furthering what he said in his Monday speech to the group when accepting the endorsement, Oz told Fox News Digital that crime rates were continuing to grow because there weren’t enough police to tackle the issue.
Republican Pennsylvania Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks with Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie during an interview on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. (Brandon Gillespie)
“Who wants to run toward a crisis to risk your life and then get criticized for doing it?” he asked, referencing what he called anti-police policies being pushed by a number of liberal politicians and activists, including those calling to defund the police.
Oz said a similar situation was occurring when it came to the drug crisis, specifically fentanyl overdose deaths, gripping Pennsylvania and the rest of the country. He argued that human and drug traffickers were making a fortune because of the crisis at the U.S. border with Mexico, and that, if elected, he would “bring a dose of reality” to Washington, D.C.
“I’ve got to give you my diagnosis: It is far left radicals like John Fetterman… who have gotten this ideology that it’s OK to value the criminals more than the innocent,” Oz said. “I mean, take Fetterman specifically. He’s the most pro murderer candidate in America. He’s released convicted murderers from prison who were supposed to be serving life in prison.”
During Fetterman’s ongoing tenure on Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardons, which “hears requests for pardons and commutation in Pennsylvania,” according to the state’s website, he has been criticized for being too lax on criminals serving long sentences. Last year, Fetterman called for the release of all second-degree murderers from the state’s prisons, but later walked back those comments.
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman speaks at a United Steel Workers of America Labor Day event with President Joe Biden in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, Sept. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)
Oz added that Fetterman had two convicted murderers working for his Senate campaign, both of whom were serving life sentences before being pardoned last year.
“We have got to take our cities back from the far-left. I was in Kensington, which is the largest open air drug market in America. It’s right in the middle of Philadelphia. And this is an area that Rocky used to run through the streets there in the movie,” Oz said. “It’s a lower middle class, clean neighborhood that you could make a living in and live in. Now, you can’t do any of that. You’ve got hundreds of people with needles sticking out of their necks, oblivious to life.”
“When I went down there, four different people approached me – the divine spark gone from their eyes, asking – begging if I could take them to detox. We have politicians who think they have to care about caring and nothing more. I argue we have to care about fixing,” he said.
“We have to deal with the woke mob who have lost their way and are willing to sacrifice, in order to virtue signal, the lives of Philadelphians in Pennsylvania. And that’s what we’re witnessing with this rampage over the weekend,” he added.
Oz vowed he would combat crime by supporting policies that would close the border to the record-high number of migrants entering the U.S. to claim asylum, tying up the legal system, and providing funds to the drug cartels and allowing them to continue smuggling drugs.
He said he would ensure police departments were adequately funded, support community policing policies, and make sure municipalities received federal support for law enforcement whenever possible.
Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz holds a rally in the Triton Hose Co. fire station in Tunkhanock, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 18, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“This is not just about throwing money at the problem. This is about allowing people who are risking everything to help society to feel respected for doing that,” Oz said.
“When John Fetterman insults police, which he does frequently, and undermines their ability to do their jobs, they don’t want to do it anymore. That’s why you don’t have enough police in Philadelphia and many municipalities around Pennsylvania,” he added.
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Fox News’ Power Rankings has rated the race between Oz and Fetterman as a “toss up.”
The general election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8.