Trump’s Washington Takeover Is Only Just the Beginning

The president’s unfounded claims of anarchy and lawlessness do not justify his trial run for martial law

Photo by the White House on Flickr (non-endorsed public domain image)

Donald Trump on Monday announced immediate plans to federalize the D.C. National Guard and the Metropolitan Police Department, allegedly as part of an extensive crime-fighting effort in the nation’s capital city.

Regardless of the administration’s excuses, the move is extreme, unwarranted, and historically unprecedented.

Make no mistake — the president’s latest power grab is not intended to make Americans any safer, nor are the justifications cited by the White House rooted in any semblance of reality. Rather, it is just another reckless and dramatic escalation that risks normalizing the presence of soldiers on city streets.

To explain their rationale behind deploying troops on U.S. soil during a calm August day, the president and his administrative heads — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Kash Patel — painted a dire picture in Washington, one that could not be any further from the truth.

“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people,” Trump claimed, referring to the carjacking of a DOGE staffer known as ‘Big Balls.’

Nonetheless, outside of specific and isolated incidents, overall crime in Washington, D.C. has fallen to a 30-year low. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, violent crime in the city is down by 35% following a brief spike in 2023.

In addition to the overall crime reduction, homicides were reported as being down by 32%; robberies down by 39%; assaults with a weapon down by 27%; and carjackings, such as the attack against ‘Big Balls,’ down by an impressive 53%.

The numbers do not lie — contrary to the president’s statement, local law enforcement is already producing meaningful results, and Washington, D.C. has not been overthrown by gangs or bloodthirsty individuals.

True, a known criminal might live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but the city has not otherwise fallen to crime or violent behavior.

Being a 34-count convicted felon, it should be painfully obvious that Trump does not truly care about fighting crime or securing American communities. At the end of the day, the federalization of the District of Columbia is just another tool to advance the administration’s anti-democratic agenda, including the centralization of law enforcement under a wannabe dictator.

But as we all know by now, his plans extend well beyond the nation’s capital.

Accordingly, Trump has threatened similar action against Democratic-led cities in blue states, applying pressure where he believes it will hurt the most. Like D.C. and Los Angeles, the administration says places such as Baltimore, Oakland, New York, and Chicago will become their next targets.

Coincidentally, this list does not include cities in red states that have struggled with crime, such as Saint Louis, Missouri, or Memphis, Tennessee, where the homicide rates are among the highest in the country.

Of course, that’s because Trump’s federalization has nothing to do with crime or justice; instead, all the president cares about is enacting revenge against Democratic cities, mayors, and governors — people and places he holds a personal grudge against.

Regardless of the administration’s many excuses for doing so, commandeering the police and National Guard for political purposes is an unmistakable page out of the authoritarian playbook, and a giant leap toward establishing martial law.

It is petty, reckless, and needlessly provocative. It must not be allowed to stand.

MAGA fascism is no longer a matter of mere hypotheticals — Trump’s police state is already here, and armed soldiers might soon be deployed to a city near you.