Trump's Takeover
Sunday August 3rd, 19 year old Edward Coristine, a former DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) employee, was assaulted in DC during an attempted carjacking.
This assault led to a post made by Trump on his social media on August 5th where he attached a photo taken of the bloodied young man and threatened to take federal control over the city, arguing that, “crime in Washington, D.C. is totally out of control,” and “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore. Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City.”
He also spoke with reporters about the assault on the same day as his social media post and once again threatened a federal take over, stating, “I have to say that somebody from DOGE was very badly hurt … A young man who was beat up by a bunch of thugs in DC, and either they’re gonna straighten their act out in the terms of government and in terms of protection or we’re gonna have to federalize and run it the way it’s supposed to be run.”
Though Trump and several of his allies have repeatedly claimed that crime is rising, Metropolitan Police Department statistics report that violent crime rates have actually fallen by 26% in the nation’s capital during the first seven months of this year compared to that of last year's reports.
D.C. attorney general, Brian Schwalb, took to coming out with a statement after Trump’s claims, arguing back that, “There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia” and later went on to note the decreasing violent crime statistic in his statement.
The day after his social media post and conversation with reporters, he spoke with more reporters in the Oval Office where he backed the idea of deploying the National Guard. This is where he also mentioned the administration was taking a look at overturning DC Home Rule, an act that gives specific congressional powers pertaining to the governing of a district to local governing entities like the mayor and city council.
On August 10th, Trump officially made the move, declared a public safety emergency in D.C., invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, and deployed 800 members of D.C.’s National Guard, 200 of which are meant to support law enforcement. Though since this takeover can only legally be put into place for 30 days before the Senate and the House have to enact into law a joint resolution for an extension, many are unsure that it will have any impactful effect on crime whatsoever.
After announcing the federal takeover of D.C., Trump further threatened to do the same to other major U.S. cities, including Chicago and New York City. He vowed to put a special spotlight on New York if Democratic Party Candidate Zohran Mamdani successfully wins mayoralty and makes any moves against him.
The ongoing fight about the legality surrounding Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard on LA back in June is possible to happen again if he decides to do the same in other cities. While he was legally able to take control over D.C. and is arguing that he had the right to do so in LA because of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid protests starting a “rebellion”, the National Guard in other states is controlled by state governors.
Depending on how this first takeover in D.C. goes and how aggressive the federal presence ends up being could determine what the future of takeovers in other cities could look like. It seems as though Trump is looking to target cities whose officials are more likely to defy him or govern differently. The question of whether or not this takeover will actually be brought upon by other cities will likely be more clear once we are closer to the end of the 30 days in D.C. Trump is allowed and he decides whether the outcome was what he wanted or not.
