Fox contributor and lawyer Leo Terell argued Monday that Democrats use homelessness as a “key profit maker” during a Fox News appearance.
Terrell appeared on “Hannity” to discuss recent comments made by NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, in which he called out San Francisco for its rapid decline and high homeless population. Fox guest host Kayleigh McEnany questioned the contributor on his thoughts regarding Barkley’s statements on the liberal city, asking what it is going to take to get the city “fixed.” (RELATED: ‘Bunch Of Homeless Crooks’: NBA Hall Of Famer Charles Barkley Shreds Rapidly Declining San Francisco)
“You know, Charles Barkley, he has spoken out before on this. I found out before that the ’22 Western Conference game, there apparently was a leak on the American Airlines center – this was in Dallas. He said this, “The bad thing about all this rain, is it’s not raining in San Francisco to clean up those dirty streets that they’ve got there. San Francisco, it’s a great city, but all this dirtiness and homelessness. Y’all got to clean up those streets.” I mean, Leo, is it going to take more people like Charles Barkley speaking up repeatedly to get something fixed?” McEnany questioned.
Terrell stated that while it would take a “complete changeover” of Democrat leadership to fix cities like Los Angeles or Chicago, the Fox contributor claimed that Democrats, however, don’t want homelessness to end because it is a “profit making machine” for them. Terrell highlighted recent scenarios in which cities, like San Francisco, were cleaned up for a few days due to political motives or events.
“Yes, and it’s going to take a complete changeover of Democratic leadership in California and New York and Chicago. Let me be very clear, Kayleigh, they could clean it up if they wanted to. I’m old enough to remember when the Chinese president was here in San Francisco – cleaned it up! I want people to understand, homelessness is a profit maker for Democrats. They campaign on it, they raise money on it. They don’t want it to end, because they can use it to exploit those who are on the streets. Just like the Super Bowl a couple years ago in California – in LA, streets were clean. But it is a profit making machine for the Democrats,” Terrell stated.
California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted in November 2023 that San Francisco had to “clean up the house” due to Chinese President Xi Jinping and other foreign leaders visiting the city for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.
“I know folks say, ‘they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming into town’ – that’s true because it’s true,” Newsom stated at the time. “I’m so excited about showing this place off to 21 fancy foreign leaders from around the world.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Community Development reported in 2022 that 172,000 homelessness within California accounted for more than 30% of the country’s total homeless population, according to Cal Matters.