Traditionally, the modern Republican Party has ostensibly cared about the concept of “states’ rights,” but in recent years, evidence to the contrary has become so common that the developments no longer seem interesting. There’s a general understanding that while the party at least used to pay lip service to the idea, the contemporary GOP rarely bothers with the pretense.
But in 2025, Republicans made a right turn at “states’ rights are no longer a priority” and arrived at “we don’t much care about local control, either.”
NBC News reported on Donald Trump’s latest White House Cabinet meeting, which included some new presidential rhetoric about possible federal intervention in how city governments govern.
After criticizing New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Trump suggested he could take control of his hometown. ‘We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,’ Trump said. He added later, ‘We’re going to straighten out New York, it’s going to — maybe we’re going to have to straighten it out from Washington.’
As part of the same exchange, the Republican added, “We’re going to do something for New York. I can’t tell you what yet, but we’re going to make New York great again.”
At the same White House event, a reporter asked Trump for his advice to Republican voters in New York City ahead of this year’s mayoral race. The president didn’t answer the question directly, though he did revive the idea of his administration taking over Washington, D.C.
REPORTER: How do you want Republican voters in NYC to vote in the upcoming mayoral election?TRUMP: We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to. We could run DC … we're thinking about doing it, to be honest with you.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-07-08T17:17:59.333Z
“We could run D.C.,” he told reporters, adding, “[W]e would run it so good. It would be run so proper — we’d get the best person to run it, and the crime would be down to a minimal, would be much less. You know, we’re thinking about doing it, to be honest with you.”
An Axios report noted, “Trump last floated a takeover in February, criticizing Mayor Muriel Bowser’s management of [Washington]. … Trump repeatedly said he wanted to take over D.C. while running as a candidate. A full takeover of the District would require Congress to abolish the city’s home rule.”
All of this comes about a week after the president also suggested that he would consider cutting off federal support to New York City if Mamdani wins his election and governs in ways the White House disapproves of. “Rest assured, I hold all the levers and have all the cards,” Trump said.
Time will tell what, if anything, comes of these threats, but a couple of angles are worth keeping in mind in the coming months. For one thing, if Trump is serious about imposing restrictions on cities that make decisions he doesn’t like, it would represent a radical and dramatic step in his larger authoritarian vision. For another, his allies should probably take a moment to ponder the precedent Trump could set. Could a future Democratic president, reflecting on conditions in a red city or a red state, effectively declare, “We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to, and we’re going to straighten that place out”? Would Republicans shrug with indifference to a Democratic administration thwarting local conservative governance by saying, “I hold all the levers, and have all the cards”? The answer seems obvious. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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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