It’s no secret that Donald Trump loves to create spectacles. If there’s an opportunity to manufacture a camera-ready, choreographed production in which the president is the star, he will seize it with great enthusiasm.
With this in mind, the Republican raised plenty of eyebrows on Thursday afternoon with an unexpected announcement on a conservative radio program.
Trump: "I'm going to be going out tonight [in D.C.], I think, with the police and with the military of course."
— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-08-21T17:18:42.647Z
“I’m going to be going out tonight,” Trump told host Todd Starnes. “I’m going to keep it a secret. I’m going to go — you’re the only one that knows, you and your lots of listeners. … I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police and with the military, of course. So we’re going to do a job.”
Naturally, this led to all kinds of speculation about the details of the looming presidential patrol (I envisioned Trump carrying zip-ties and wearing a Dukakis-like helmet) and how much of the theatrics would be staged in an attempt to make him look tough.
As it happens, the speculation proved unnecessary. The Washington Post reported:
Some protesters brought pots, pans and spoons in their backpacks, prepared to bang them together and make their anger at Trump’s federal law enforcement surge known. … But Trump never patrolled. Instead, he returned to the White House. Instead of following through on his curious boast, the Republican spoke for about 10 minutes to a group of uniformed personnel outside a U.S. Park Police operations center in the city’s Anacostia neighborhood. It seemed likely that he’d devote his comments to the subject at hand, but Trump instead took the opportunity to talk about his civil fraud case. And a future White House ballroom. And artificial intelligence. And his grass expertise. And how much he hates wind power. What this had to do with combatting local street crime is unclear. Whether the federal officials, law enforcement personnel and National Guard troops on hand found all of this confusing is also unclear — but either way, those assuming Trump would follow through by going on patrol in the streets of the nation’s capital were left disappointed.
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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