Donald Trump has spent the last few days vowing to unveil the details of a new “beautification” initiative regarding Washington, D.C., which the president has said would involve moving homeless people “FAR from the Capital” and reducing crime rates. “Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today!” the Republican declared online as Monday got underway. “Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR.”
As for how, exactly, he intends to do this, NBC News reported, “Trump announced this morning that he will federalize the Washington, D.C., police and deploy National Guard troops in an effort to fight crime.”
Trump announces he's placing the DC police department "under direct federal control" and deploying the National Guard in the city
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-08-11T14:42:53.334Z
As far as the White House is concerned, this is apparently the first in a series of related steps. After referencing New York City, Baltimore and Oakland by name, the president told the White House press corps in reference to his new gambit, “This will go further. We’ll starting very strongly with D.C.”
Crime rates in New York City, Baltimore and Oakland have already sharply improved, and while Trump has repeatedly insisted that crime in nation’s capital is “out of control,” in reality, crime in D.C. has dropped.
Indeed, we can say this with some confidence because U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office is still promoting a press statement from earlier this year that boasts about violent crime in the city dropping to a 30-year low.
All of which leads to some awkward questions about why in the world Trump is doing this.
The scope of the White House’s ambitions is not modest. The president isn’t just deploying National Guard troops in yet another American city, in response to a crisis that doesn’t appear to exist, he’s also claiming emergency powers to federalize a local police department, despite the apparent lack of emergency conditions that might warrant such a move.
Trump, taking advantage of the fact that D.C. is not a state, also intends to overhaul cash-bail policies in the city, remove homeless encampments, and replace D.C.-area judges whom he doesn’t like, all while addressing potholes and roadway medians.
The president even appears to be creating new criminal statutes on the fly, declaring at his press conference that those who “even think about destroying a statue or monument” in the city will “go to jail for 10 years.”
Does he have the legal authority to make such declarations? By all appearances, the president doesn’t much care.
As for the prospect of having National Guard troops patrolling the streets in D.C. — a first since pro-Trump rioters launched an insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — there were many observers who argued that the Republican’s recent deployment in California was intended to help acclimate American civilians to seeing troops on American streets.
Those arguments are looking quite prescient. As for the latest announcement, Trump also took the opportunity to share some related thoughts about how his newly deployed forces would treat criminal suspects. "You knock the hell out of them. It's the only language they understand … you spit and we hit. And they get hit real hard … now they are allowed to do whatever they want" — Trump on the police response to crime in DC “You knock the hell out of them. It’s the only language they understand,” the Republican said, adding, “You spit and we hit — and they get hit real hard.” Trump, of course, maintained very different standards for Jan. 6 rioters, many of whom did far more than just spit on police officers during violent clashes at the Capitol, but who nevertheless received presidential pardons from the Republican just hours after his second inaugural. As for whether any of this is legal, The Washington Post reported, “Under the Home Rule Act, President Donald Trump can assume control of D.C. police for 48 hours if he ‘determines that special conditions of an emergency nature exist which require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes.’ The takeover may be extended with approval of the members of Congress who oversee D.C. affairs. Any request of over 30 days must be passed into law.” The presidential announcement, in other words, was the first step, not the last, and the legal and political disputes that will soon follow are likely to be dramatic. Watch this space. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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