With DC crackdown, Trump reorients balance of power between city, feds
| Washington
The governance of Washington, D.C., has always been an experiment in coexistence.
This plot of land is the nation鈥檚 capital, home to the White House and Congress, federal agencies, and numerous monuments. It鈥檚 also a major U.S. metropolis in its own right, with a population larger than the states of Wyoming and Vermont. The Constitution gives Congress legislative authority over the district鈥檚 governance.聽But since the 1970s, the city has elected its own mayor and city council, and, over the years, residents have pushed for greater local control and representation. In 2021, a bill granting the district statehood passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
Four years later, the question of Washington鈥檚 self-determination has moved sharply in the opposite direction.
Why We Wrote This
President Donald Trump鈥檚 takeover of the D.C. police department and deployment of the National Guard has opened a new chapter in the district鈥檚 relationship with the federal government. Critics warn the president may try similar actions in other Democratic-controlled cities. But Washington holds a unique status.
President Donald Trump鈥檚 announcement on Monday that he is temporarily placing the D.C. police department under federal control and deploying the National Guard to the nation鈥檚 capital to combat crime has opened a new chapter in the district鈥檚 relationship with the federal government. The move comes after Mr. Trump repeatedly threatened a federal takeover of the nation鈥檚 capital while and again
鈥淥ur capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people, and we鈥檙e not going to let it happen anymore,鈥� said Mr. Trump in the White House briefing room, flanked by members of his administration. 鈥淭his is Liberation Day in D.C., and we鈥檙e going to take our capital back.鈥�
Violent crime surged in Washington during the pandemic. But it is now at , according to the Metropolitan Police Department, from this time last year. Those statistics, along with the June deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid modest immigration protests, have led Democrats to accuse the president of laying the groundwork for a federal takeover of Democratic-controlled cities. Mr. Trump himself appeared to suggest as much at his Monday news conference, calling his actions in Washington a 鈥渕odel鈥� for other cities such as Chicago, New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Oakland, California.
鈥淭rump鈥檚 raw authoritarian power grab in D.C. is part of a growing national crisis,鈥� Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland . 鈥淗e鈥檚 playing dictator in our nation鈥檚 capital as a dress rehearsal as he pushes democracy to the brink.鈥�
Yet the District of Columbia is also a unique place, with a tangle of laws giving different bodies overlapping authority on various issues. The Constitution clearly states that the seat of the nation鈥檚 government should be under federal jurisdiction. But the question of who handles the city鈥檚 day-to-day affairs 鈥� from overseeing schools to collecting trash to combating crime and homelessness 鈥� has never been simple.
How the city is governed, and by whom, has shifted through different eras, reflecting an ongoing push-and-pull between city officials and the political party in power.
鈥淭he Founders did see this as a conflict, as a problem to be solved,鈥� says George Derek Musgrove, a history professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County who has authored a book on the city鈥檚 history. 鈥淭he problem is that they never solved it.鈥�
National Guard troops deployed
This week, 800 D.C. National Guard troops will fan out across the nation鈥檚 capital, Mr. Trump said on Monday. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the Metropolitan Police Department, with Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Terry Cole stepping in as the department鈥檚 interim commissioner.
All of this is permitted under the city鈥檚 current governance structure. Even as Mr. Trump鈥檚 deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles was being contested in a California courtroom on Monday morning, the president is unlikely to face the same legal pushback here. For one thing, the D.C. National Guard falls under the president鈥檚 authority. And under the , the president has the authority to take over the D.C. police for 30 days. (After that, Congress would have to pass legislation granting an extension 鈥� which is unlikely, given Republicans鈥� lack of a filibuster-proof margin in the Senate.)
This section of the Home Rule Act, which was intended as an emergency measure in the event of widespread rioting, has never been invoked in the law鈥檚 52-year history.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to find a historical analogy of what Trump is doing, because the whole premise 鈥� is completely false,鈥� says Mary Dudziak, an expert in legal history at the Emory University School of Law. 鈥淗e says that National Guard troops are needed because of the crime rate rising in Washington, D.C. And the data on the crime rate in Washington, D.C., is the opposite.鈥�
But while crime in the district has fallen, those improvements have come on the heels of a dangerous few years 鈥� and what many residents perceived as a weak response from the city government.
In June 2020, a few weeks after George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, the D.C. City Council unanimously approved emergency legislation limiting the use of force by D.C. police. It included requiring officers to release body-camera footage more quickly, limiting the role of the police union in disciplinary procedures, and barring officers from using tear gas or pepper spray to disperse a crowd. By 2023, Washington was one of the deadliest cities in the country, with violent crime up by 39%, though still far below the city鈥檚
When the City Council attempted to rewrite the D.C. criminal code in 2023, including relaxing the maximum sentences for several violent crimes, the bill was blocked by Congress. Thirty-three Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to shut it down.
The following year, the Council reversed many of the provisions it had passed in the wake of Mr. Floyd鈥檚 death. The 2024 Secure D.C. Act relaxed policies around neck restraints (including the technique used by the officer responsible for Mr. Floyd鈥檚 death), allowed officers to review their body-camera footage before writing police reports, and cracked down on certain crimes like carjacking.
While Washington鈥檚 homicide rate fell in 2024, it than in other major cities such as Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.聽A recent case of a D.C. police commander put on leave for has bolstered that the city is more dangerous than official figures suggest.
As recently as this past May, a Washington Post poll found that D.C. residents ranked 鈥渃rime, violence, and guns鈥� , above the economy, Mr. Trump, or housing.
Mr. Trump鈥檚 announcement came after a on a young Department of Government Efficiency employee, Edward Coristine, during an attempted carjacking.
The moves also appear to reflect the president鈥檚 own frustration with homeless encampments. He posted several photos of tents and trash on social media, pictures apparently taken from his motorcade in Virginia over the weekend. Mr. Trump told members of the media that it was 鈥渆mbarrassing鈥� how 鈥渄irty and disgusting鈥� Washington has become.
Decrying violence, but not on Jan. 6
Many Democrats and local residents have pointed out the irony of Mr. Trump鈥檚 focus on D.C. violence, given that the attack on the U.S. Capitol by the president鈥檚 supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, remains one of the city鈥檚 most violent days in modern history. On his first day back in office, Mr. Trump pardoned some 1,500 defendants who participated in that day鈥檚 attack, including people as well as organizers .
Those frustrated with the president鈥檚 show of force in the district have also suggested that if the city鈥檚 condition is a concern, reinstating the $1.1 billion that Congress cut from the city鈥檚 budget during a spending freeze 鈥� which the Senate has voted to restore 鈥� should be a priority. Such funds are particularly needed, city officials say, at a time when Washington鈥檚 largest employer, the federal government, has issued mass layoffs.
Mr. Trump likely sees this moment as a political opportunity. His legal authority over the city鈥檚 police department will last only for 30 days, but leaning into the politics of crime 鈥� which continues to be Mr. Trump鈥檚 issue 鈥� could be particularly useful following a weak July jobs report and ongoing criticism of his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
As Mr. Trump noted several times during his news conference, the White House briefing room was standing room only.
But with ownership of a problem comes risk. Mr. Trump will now be judged by his ability to clean up the city 鈥渞eal quick,鈥� as he put it, which might be more difficult than his administration predicts, given the city鈥檚 patchwork of jurisdictions and laws that change between traffic circles and sidewalks.
After the president created the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force , which included a 鈥渟urge鈥� of law enforcement in public areas, the U.S. Park Police has made several arrests for marijuana usage in places like Dupont Circle and Logan Circle. Marijuana possession is legal within the city, but it is prohibited in the聽 of the city that is federally owned land, like its rotary parks.
鈥淚 think they鈥檙e using [crime] as an opportunity to try and put more federalized control in the executive on the ground here in D.C.,鈥� says Alex Hawkins, a D.C. resident, while waiting for the metro at Dupont Circle. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to make a point, a political point, that they control what鈥檚 going on in D.C.鈥�
