Truth behind ‘filthy' sight Trump can't stand

News.com.au

18 hours ago

It's an arresting site – and that's why Donald Trump wants it to end, right now.
In Washington DC, in the shadow of immaculately kept embassies, close to government buildings and on neatly swept streets, are tents. Lots, and lots, of tents.
There are tents on footpaths, in parks, even the manicured verges of Washington's motorways.
Which is reportedly where the US president saw them on the way to play golf. And he wasn't pleased.
The tents are a visual sign of the extent of homelessness in the capital.
One of those homeless people, Nathaniel, has been setting up his part encampment part artwork in the ritzy neighbourhood of Georgetown for more than a decade.
He told news.com.au that police knew him but rarely moved him on.
But now, Mr Trump wants Nathaniel, his tents, trolleys and various other ephemera gone.
Mr Trump prefers ballrooms to tents. Last week he spruiked the building of a new White House entertaining space to show off to world leaders.
It will sport all the trimmings a president – who likes a dash of gold – can muster. A scrappy tent, a windswept home for one, in sight of dignitaries just will not do.
Homelessness, as well as crime, were the main justifications the US president gave on Monday for a sweeping increase in government control over Washington DC.
The city's police will be taken over, the National Guard deployed and, possibly, the military too. However, it may only last for 30 days as beyond that Mr Trump will need Congress' approval.
Already, however, his justification has included two words that have already been shown to simply not hold water.
'Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN!' he wrote on social media.
'If our capital is dirty, our whole country is dirty, and (world leaders) don't respect us.
'We're going to be removing homeless encampments from all over our beautiful parks,' Mr Trump added.
'We're going to help them … but they'll not be allowed to turn our capital into a wasteland for the world to see.'
He added that he wanted to 'beautify' Washington which included 'replacing the potholes'.
'Not a crime'
It's questionable whether anyone would find Nathaniel's little slice of Washington 'beautiful' – but it's certainly notable.
On Pennsylvania Ave, not far from ritzy a strip of Lululemons, Aesops and any number of charming bistros, is a row of shopping trolleys draped with an enormous US flag.
Other smaller flags – Switzerland, Japan, Ukraine – can also be found. There's also a large model of the Statue of Liberty and a mattress that has seen better days. It's eclectic.
'I've been doing this for years,' says Nathaniel, who sits next to a shopping bag that says 'good vibes'.
He said he first came to Washington from Baltimore.
News.com.au spoke to Nathaniel before the election, before Mr Trump began murmuring about taking over some running of the city. But his patriotic quasi artwork has remained a feature of Georgetown.
During the day, he said, he often reads his bible. At night he puts his belongings back into the trolleys covers them with a blanket. He keeps a tight hold on the flag through, his prized possession.
'The police know me, the way I do things' he said. 'It's not a crime, I'm not starting trouble, and I'm just putting my flag up'.
There were 'homeless people all over the country,' said Nathaniel when asked why it seemed such an issue in DC.
'In New York they will just be on the Subway and sleeping on the trains'.
'This solves nothing'
Of the 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia (millions more live in the Washington suburbs in Maryland and Virginia) around 800 people sleep on the streets, according to the Community Partnership to Prevent Homelessness.
Advocates have pointed out that even if the authorities move people out of DC, they can't stop them from coming straight back to the capital. It's not illegal to not have a home.
'Sending in the National Guard, sending in the military, sending in even the local police is not the solution to homelessness,' executive director of the New York based Coalition for the Homeless, David Giffen, said.
'It solves nothing'.
Mr Trump also claimed that a federal takeover of DC police was necessary because crime was 'out of control'.
'People come from Indiana, and then they get mugged,' he said.
Of all US cities, DC is the 25th most dangerous. That's actually not as dangerous as Indianapolis, which is in Indiana. Maybe Washington residents should be warned about Indiana.
Detroit, Baltimore and New Orleans, among others, are also higher than DC on the crime ladder.
But many US cities are safer than the capital: San Francisco, Orlando, Seattle, LA and Boston. New York has half as much violent crime per 100,000 people.
There's no doubt DC can and should do better.
Two words that don't stack up
In his executive order to take over the police, Mr Trump said 'rising violence' was the key problem.
It's two words that don't stack up. Crime has fallen in Washington DC, dramatically. And that's without the federal government intervening.
Homicides peaked in 1996 at almost 400. Last year they were less than half that, albeit it's back on the rise.
District of Columbia Attorney-General Brian Schwalb said the move to take over the police was 'unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.'
'There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26 per cent so far this year,' he said.
But Mr Trump has a disdain for statistics that don't back up his claims.
Hours after the announcement, the White House issued a statement tersely insisting that 'Yes, DC Crime Is Out of Control'.
It was 'higher than Islamabad,' it stated, singling out the Pakistani city for no apparent reason The White House also claimed the city police was 'allegedly … cooking the books'.
But Mr Trump has a long stated desire to assert more control over the capital. And that Washington DC, similar to Canberra, is not a state but a federal entity, makes that much easier.
It almost seems as if he wants to create a real life version of The Capitol, the central city of Panem in the Hunger Games franchise. A metropolis of conspicuous wealth, a symbol of sheer power.
But Washington's woes are just a symbol of America's huge gap between its have and have nots.
A country where the difference between standing on your own two feet and slipping through the massive gaps can be as simple as a bill for an unexpected medical treatment. Where many of those people on the streets are there because of barely treated mental health issues.
The White House can physically remove the tents from DC's streets and deposit Nathaniel and others elsewhere. But they remain homeless.
The reasons why they ended up on the streets have not magically been solved.
But next time Mr Trump is heading from the White House for a round of golf, he may indeed be less perturbed by the sight of tents out of his window. And the guests in his ballroom won't have to wince at the reality of all those have-nots.