Call me crazy, but if I lived in a city where I hesitated from taking a walk at night because it wasn’t safe or refrained from wearing jewelry for fear of being mugged, I’d be pretty happy to see a president – or anyone – move to drive down crime.
That is most clearly NOT the response from Democrats horrified that President Trump will attempt to make D.C., our nation’s capital, a safer place to live. The president declared he would put Washington under “direct federal control” and deploy National Guard troops to the city, citing a public safety emergency. The move followed an assault on a young former DOGE employee who had valiantly intervened to stop a carjacking and protect a female driver and ended up getting seriously beaten by a mob of young punks.
“Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today!” Trump said Monday triumphantly on Truth Social.
The DC Police Chief Pamela Smith doesn’t know what "Chain of Command" means pic.twitter.com/lO7xUu5IfV
— Liz Peek (@lizpeek) August 12, 2025
Though Democrats objected, it turns out Trump’s move was entirely legal, falling under the Home Rule Act of 1973, which allows the president to assume control of the local police for up to two days. He could extend this takeover by formally notifying the chairs and ranking members of congressional committees handling DC affairs; to take over for more than 30 days would require obtaining congressional approval or changing the law, which is unlikely to happen.
The president, claiming the city was in the grip of “bloodthirsty criminals” and “roving mobs of wild youth,” deployed 800 National Guard troops and over 100 FBI agents to support local cops, flooding the streets of the capital and just daring troublemakers to stir the pot.
An unhappy D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who like most Dem mayors cannot control her city but instead panders to criminals, called the move “unsettling and unprecedented.” She ducked the real issue on the table – out of control crime – and used the event to promote her agenda saying, “My message to residents is this, we know that access to our democracy is tenuous. That is why you have heard me and many Washingtonians before me advocate for full statehood.” Right; not happening.
The mayor and her supporters in the press claim that crime in the district is at a “30-year low”, but a White House memorandum says otherwise, stating that the homicide rate last year was the fourth-highest in the nation, nearly six times higher than New York and even higher than Chicago.
From the White House: “Washington, D.C. should be a symbol of pride and patriotism for the American people — and a safe location for tourists, residents, and public servants.” But, they point out that “Washington, D.C.’s murder rate is roughly three times higher than that of Islamabad, Pakistan, and 18 times higher than that of communist-run Havana, Cuba.”
The head of the local police unions cheered Trump’s move, saying “something needs to be done.”
“Authoritarian!” screamed the Left. “Jackboots come next!” shouted the anti-Trumpers. Richard Stengel, MSNBC talking head, wrote on X that “Throughout history, autocrats use a false pretext to impose government control over local law enforcement as a prelude to a more national takeover. That’s far more dangerous than the situation [Trump] says he is fixing.” Sure – unless you’re the young guy beaten bloody by young thugs.
The New York Times wrote, “President Trump is not the only elected leader to deploy National Guard troops in response to a supposed crime wave that many have questioned. In March 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, announced that she would deploy 750 members of the National Guard to New York’s subway system.” Though the “paper of record” was quick to point out that the circumstances were different, the main conclusion? It worked. Subway crime dropped 27 percent in the 12 months following the troops’ deployment.
The same will happen in DC. Crime will almost certainly go down. Will local politicians complain?
