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Despite Trump's tough tone now, things were much worse in Washington when National Guard was rolled out in 1968

CNN

41 minutes ago

CNN

Despite Trump's tough tone now, things were much worse in Washington when National Guard was rolled out in 1968

Donald Trump Federal agencies US militaryFacebookTweetLink Follow Fear in the streets. Buildings burning. Law enforcement struggling to tamp down violence and control chaos. It's the kind of scene that has brought a federal military response to US cities in the past. And it's a vision of Washington, DC, that President Donald Trump is invoking to bring the military to the city's streets today. 'It's becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness,' Trump said in a news conference last week, announcing his plans to federalize law enforcement in the capital – including the deployment of 800 National Guard troops. While the government has announced some arrests this week – many of them immigration offenses – the scene in Washington has been a far cry from the description Trump gave when announcing the federal law enforcement takeover, saying the District 'has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals.' Since their arrival this week, members of the guard have spent much of their time posted near landmarks and standing next to armored vehicles, amiably obliging tourists who request selfies. It's a noticeably different situation than the chaotic one that prompted the biggest military callup in Washington since the Civil War – the 1968 riots following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., in Tennessee. 'You saw smoke, and you saw flames. And you see cars speeding by. 'There's a riot! The city's burning!'' said Brig Owens in a 2014 interview for an oral history project. Owens, who died in 2022, was a player for Washington's NFL team who was called up for active duty with the guard during the riots. 'It was as if war had come to the city. At least for a small kid, that's the way it felt,' Washington, DC, historian John DeFerrari, who was 10 years old at the time, told CNN. 'I remember being out and playing in the front yard of our house and seeing a military Jeep come by on patrol. Two soldiers there. A machine gun mounted.' To hear the president tell it, the situation in Washington is just as dire today. 'People are so happy to see our military going into DC and getting these thugs out,' Trump said. But many local elected officials are expressing less enthusiasm for the federal action and the impression the president is giving of the District. 'One thing that has everybody pretty mad, especially me, is the characterization of our city and our residents,' responded Mayor Muriel Bowser. 'We don't live in a dirty city. We don't have neighborhoods that should be bulldozed.' After spiking in 2023, violent crime in Washington has been on the decline, according to Metropolitan Police Department records. 'He's painted this dystopian vision, and it just doesn't track with the facts on the ground,' DC Councilmember Charles Allen told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday. The National Guard was last mobilized in DC in 2020 during Black Lives Matter protests. Guard mmembers famously helped to clear out demonstrators as President Trump made his way across Lafayette Square to hold a Bible in front of a vandalized church. There has been a dispute over whether the guard was already planning to move protesters away from the White House or was specifically clearing a path for the president's photo opportunity. Before 2020, the guard and its predecessor – the DC Militia – were placed on federal active duty only 10 times in the District, according to the Congressional Research Service, including a multiyear deployment during the Civil War. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis on April 4, 1968, was a shock to the world. But it was felt as a shattering blow in Washington, which had the highest percentage of Black residents of any major US city at the time, according to The Washington Post. Paul Delaney, cofounder of the National Association of Black Journalists, was a reporter for The Washington Star newspaper at the time and knew the bottled-up rage of the community – already dealing with 'white flight' and underinvestment – could explode at the news. 'I drove up and sure enough, groups of protestors had formed on 14th Street near Pitts Motel,' Delaney, who is now 92 years old, told CNN. 'They began marching to U Street and began breaking windows, looting, etc. I marched with them, hiding my notebook so they wouldn't think I was a cop or some kind of spy. This went on through the night.' Within hours, businesses were in flames. Hundreds would ultimately be looted or torched, The New York Times reported, as fury over King's death expressed itself in the devastation of the several neighborhoods, including the historically Black community of Shaw. By the weekend, the DC National Guard was part of a deployment of more than 13,000 soldiers – most of them full-time Army and Marines – trying to bring the emotionally exhausted city under control. 'You had little mobs throughout the city, and you have to be aware of what those consequences could be if you get caught up in that mob,' Owens said. In contrast to the current administration, President Lyndon B. Johnson was reluctant to immediately bring the federal military onto the streets of the nation's capital, waiting a full day before invoking the Insurrection Act to mobilize troops. 'But then you had lots of destruction, lots of fires going on. Firemen were being harassed to some degree by the rioters,' said DeFerrari. 'So, the local police chief and the mayor said listen, we need federal help to control this situation.' Before calm was restored to the community after four days, more than 6,000 people were arrested, according to the National Archives, and 13 were dead. Most of the victims died in burned or collapsed buildings, The Washington Post reported. 'You had to be very careful walking through the various neighborhoods, and you didn't know if someone was going to throw something at you or if someone was going to take a shot at you,' Owens said. 'Very intense time.' After the violence was brought under control, President Johnson toured the damage from the air, Secret Service agent Clint Hill, then head of the president's protective detail, told The Washington Post in 2018. 'It was quite a sight to behold. It was unbelievable. A major portion of the city had actually burned, and it's something I'll never forget,' said Hill, who was was tragically familiar with witnessing tragic events. Only five years earlier, Hill had rescued Jacqueline Kennedy in a moving limousine after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in a Dallas motorcade. '(The riots) left this pall over the community,' said DeFerrari. 'Devastation and a sense of the old community being lost, and what is the replacement of that?' It is the second time this year President Trump has posted guard members on the streets of a city whose leaders didn't ask for it. The president federalized 4,000 California National Guard troops in June in response to immigration protests in downtown Los Angeles that had turned confrontational with federal agents. Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration, contesting Trump's legal ability to take over the state guard without an open 'rebellion' against the government. A judge is considering whether to declare that the president's action illegal following a three-day bench trial. But circumstances are much different in Washington, a federally controlled district that does not have the same constitutional protections as states. 'Yes, the president can deploy the National Guard in DC, and they are allowed to perform law enforcement functions,' said CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig. Still, even the president does not have unilateral control over the city. By law, Trump cannot extend his 30-day takeover of DC law enforcement without the approval of Congress, which is on its summer recess, unless he declares a national emergency. The District's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, filed suit against the Trump administration Friday, arguing the president has already exceeded his authority by trying to force the Metropolitan Police Department to accept a new 'emergency commissioner,' something Schwalb called a 'hostile takeover' of the department. It took decades of redevelopment and gentrification, but the communities left in ruins after the 1968 uprising now show no visible signs of the violence that upended the city. DC's Shaw neighborhood is now billed by the city's marketing organization as filled with 'cool local shops, foodie restaurants, concert halls and African American history.' Row houses in what were once considered dangerous streets now sell for more than a million dollars. For those who have seen the devastation and rebuilding of the city up close, the decision to call in the military now is especially troubling. 'I think there very clearly is not an emergency in many Washingtonians' minds,' said DeFerrari. 'I think many Washingtonians think that this is quite unnecessary.'

President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" Will Speed Up the Timeline to Social Security Benefit Cuts, New Analysis Finds

Yahoo

42 minutes ago

Yahoo

President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" Will Speed Up the Timeline to Social Security Benefit Cuts, New Analysis Finds

Key Points Social Security's Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund is an estimated eight years away from exhausting its asset reserves, which would trigger sweeping benefit cuts. A fresh analysis from the Social Security Administration's Office of the Actuary foresees the "big, beautiful bill" modestly exacerbating the program's cash outflow. However, ongoing demographic changes are the root cause of Social Security's financial woes. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › For most aging Americans, Social Security income isn't a luxury -- it's a necessary payout that ensures a stable financial foundation. For 24 years, Gallup has been surveying retirees to gauge their reliance on the income they receive from Social Security. Every year, 80% to 90% of respondents have noted their payout represents a "major" or "minor" income source. In other words, it's a necessity, in some capacity, to cover their expenses. Ideally, elected lawmakers -- which include President Donald Trump -- should be doing everything in their power to ensure the long-term financial stability of Social Security. But based on the latest update from the Social Security Board of Trustees, that's not happening. Worse yet, President Trump's flagship tax and spending law, the "big, beautiful bill," is expected to speed up the timeline to across-the-board Social Security benefit cuts, according to a new analysis. Social Security benefit cuts are an estimated eight years away Before digging into Donald Trump's newly passed law, the groundwork needs to be laid for what challenges await America's leading retirement program. Every year since the first retired-worker benefit was mailed out in 1940, the Social Security Board of Trustees has published a report that intricately details the program's financial health. It allows anyone to see how every dollar of income is collected and to track where those dollars end up. Arguably, the most important aspect of these annual reports is the long-term forecast. The long-term outlook takes into consideration fiscal and monetary policy changes, as well as ongoing demographic shifts, to determine how financially sound Social Security will be in the 75 years following the release of a report. Since 1985, every Social Security Board of Trustees Report has warned of a long-term unfunded obligation. In essence, projected income in the 75 years following the release of a report is believed to be insufficient to cover outlays, which are primarily comprised of benefits but also include the administrative expenses to operate the Social Security program. As of the 2025 report, this unfunded obligation has ballooned to $25.1 trillion. While this is a daunting figure, it's not the most immediate cause for concern. Rather, it's the Trustees' projection that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund will exhaust its asset reserves by 2033. The OASI is the fund responsible for making monthly payments to retired workers and survivors of deceased workers. To be clear, the OASI doesn't need a dime in its asset reserves to continue doling out payments to eligible beneficiaries. However, the depletion of its asset reserves would signal that the existing payout schedule, including near-annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), is unsustainable. According to the Trustees Report, sweeping benefit cuts of up to 23% may be necessary in eight years if the OASI's asset reserves run dry. Analysis: Trump's "big, beautiful bill" exacerbates this cash outflow However, this projected timeline for benefit cuts isn't set in stone. In late July, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, sent a request to the Social Security Administration's Office of the Chief Actuary (OACT) to determine what, if any, financial impacts Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" would have on the Social Security trust funds. On Aug. 5, the OACT offered its response and updated projections to Sen. Wyden. The headline takeaway from the OACT's analysis is that Trump's flagship law will speed up the timeline to across-the-board benefit cuts. Specifically, the OACT analysis points to alterations in tax collection that are expected to adversely impact the Social Security program, beginning this year. Some of these changes include: Increasing the standard deduction amount for eligible seniors aged 65 and above from 2025 through 2028. Allowing eligible workers to deduct up to $25,000 in reported tips from their federal taxable income from 2025 through 2028. Allowing eligible workers to deduct a portion of their overtime pay from their federal income tax from 2025 through 2028. These provisions in the "big, beautiful bill" are meaningful because 91% of Social Security's income is collected from the 12.4% payroll tax on earned income (wages and salary, but not investment income), with another 3.9% coming from the taxation of Social Security benefits. These aforementioned tax-reducing initiatives are forecast to increase costs for the OASI and Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund by $168.6 billion, on a combined basis, from 2025 through 2034. This reduction in projected income collection comes at a price. The new asset reserve depletion date for the OASI has moved from the third quarter of 2033 to the fourth quarter of 2032, per the OACT. For the hypothetically combined OASI and DI (OASDI) -- asset reserves from the DI can potentially be leaned on to extend the solvency of the combined OASDI -- Trump's law moves the asset reserve depletion date from the third quarter of 2034 to the first quarter of 2034. Ongoing demographic changes are primarily to blame for Social Security's financial struggles Although the OACT's analysis finds that Trump's "big, beautiful bill" is going to worsen Social Security's financial outlook, it's important to recognize that the president's newly signed law isn't at the heart of the aforementioned $25.1 trillion (and growing) long-term funding shortfall. Social Security's worsening financial outlook primarily rests on an assortment of ongoing demographic shifts. Some of these demographic changes are well-known and have been ongoing for some time. For example, baby boomers retiring from the workforce are weighing down the worker-to-beneficiary ratio. We've also witnessed the average life expectancy notably increase since the first retired-worker benefit check was mailed in January 1940. The Social Security program was never designed to pay retirees for multiple decades. But a number of these major demographic shifts are occurring below the surface: The U.S. fertility rate hit an all-time low in 2024. Fewer births will lead to added pressure on the worker-to-beneficiary ratio in decades to come. Net migration into the U.S. has fallen off considerably since the late 1990s. Legal migrants entering the U.S. are typically younger and spend decades in the labor force contributing to Social Security via the payroll tax. Fewer legal migrants equate to less payroll tax income being collected. Rising income inequality is allowing more earned income to escape the payroll tax. In 2025, all earned income from $0.01 to $176,100 is subject to the payroll tax. For decades, the upper bound of taxable income (the $176,100 figure in 2025) has grown at a slower pace than earned income for high earners, thereby allowing more earnings to escape the payroll tax. While not a demographic shift, elected lawmakers' lack of progress in fixing Social Security is deserving of some blame, as well. Though proposals to strengthen Social Security are aplenty on Capitol Hill, finding some semblance of middle ground between America's two major political parties has proved virtually impossible. Even though Donald Trump's tax and spending law is forecast to make things worse for Social Security over the next decade, it's far from the root issues that need to be addressed to strengthen America's leading retirement program. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. One easy trick could pay you as much as $23,760 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Join Stock Advisor to learn more about these Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" Will Speed Up the Timeline to Social Security Benefit Cuts, New Analysis Finds was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

CNN

44 minutes ago

CNN

Despite Trump's tough tone now, things were much worse in Washington when National Guard was rolled out in 1968

Donald Trump Federal agencies US militaryFacebookTweetLink Follow Fear in the streets. Buildings burning. Law enforcement struggling to tamp down violence and control chaos. It's the kind of scene that has brought a federal military response to US cities in the past. And it's a vision of Washington, DC, that President Donald Trump is invoking to bring the military to the city's streets today. 'It's becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness,' Trump said in a news conference last week, announcing his plans to federalize law enforcement in the capital – including the deployment of 800 National Guard troops. While the government has announced some arrests this week – many of them immigration offenses – the scene in Washington has been a far cry from the description Trump gave when announcing the federal law enforcement takeover, saying the District 'has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals.' Since their arrival this week, members of the guard have spent much of their time posted near landmarks and standing next to armored vehicles, amiably obliging tourists who request selfies. It's a noticeably different situation than the chaotic one that prompted the biggest military callup in Washington since the Civil War – the 1968 riots following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., in Tennessee. 'You saw smoke, and you saw flames. And you see cars speeding by. 'There's a riot! The city's burning!'' said Brig Owens in a 2014 interview for an oral history project. Owens, who died in 2022, was a player for Washington's NFL team who was called up for active duty with the guard during the riots. 'It was as if war had come to the city. At least for a small kid, that's the way it felt,' Washington, DC, historian John DeFerrari, who was 10 years old at the time, told CNN. 'I remember being out and playing in the front yard of our house and seeing a military Jeep come by on patrol. Two soldiers there. A machine gun mounted.' To hear the president tell it, the situation in Washington is just as dire today. 'People are so happy to see our military going into DC and getting these thugs out,' Trump said. But many local elected officials are expressing less enthusiasm for the federal action and the impression the president is giving of the District. 'One thing that has everybody pretty mad, especially me, is the characterization of our city and our residents,' responded Mayor Muriel Bowser. 'We don't live in a dirty city. We don't have neighborhoods that should be bulldozed.' After spiking in 2023, violent crime in Washington has been on the decline, according to Metropolitan Police Department records. 'He's painted this dystopian vision, and it just doesn't track with the facts on the ground,' DC Councilmember Charles Allen told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday. The National Guard was last mobilized in DC in 2020 during Black Lives Matter protests. Guard mmembers famously helped to clear out demonstrators as President Trump made his way across Lafayette Square to hold a Bible in front of a vandalized church. There has been a dispute over whether the guard was already planning to move protesters away from the White House or was specifically clearing a path for the president's photo opportunity. Before 2020, the guard and its predecessor – the DC Militia – were placed on federal active duty only 10 times in the District, according to the Congressional Research Service, including a multiyear deployment during the Civil War. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis on April 4, 1968, was a shock to the world. But it was felt as a shattering blow in Washington, which had the highest percentage of Black residents of any major US city at the time, according to The Washington Post. Paul Delaney, cofounder of the National Association of Black Journalists, was a reporter for The Washington Star newspaper at the time and knew the bottled-up rage of the community – already dealing with 'white flight' and underinvestment – could explode at the news. 'I drove up and sure enough, groups of protestors had formed on 14th Street near Pitts Motel,' Delaney, who is now 92 years old, told CNN. 'They began marching to U Street and began breaking windows, looting, etc. I marched with them, hiding my notebook so they wouldn't think I was a cop or some kind of spy. This went on through the night.' Within hours, businesses were in flames. Hundreds would ultimately be looted or torched, The New York Times reported, as fury over King's death expressed itself in the devastation of the several neighborhoods, including the historically Black community of Shaw. By the weekend, the DC National Guard was part of a deployment of more than 13,000 soldiers – most of them full-time Army and Marines – trying to bring the emotionally exhausted city under control. 'You had little mobs throughout the city, and you have to be aware of what those consequences could be if you get caught up in that mob,' Owens said. In contrast to the current administration, President Lyndon B. Johnson was reluctant to immediately bring the federal military onto the streets of the nation's capital, waiting a full day before invoking the Insurrection Act to mobilize troops. 'But then you had lots of destruction, lots of fires going on. Firemen were being harassed to some degree by the rioters,' said DeFerrari. 'So, the local police chief and the mayor said listen, we need federal help to control this situation.' Before calm was restored to the community after four days, more than 6,000 people were arrested, according to the National Archives, and 13 were dead. Most of the victims died in burned or collapsed buildings, The Washington Post reported. 'You had to be very careful walking through the various neighborhoods, and you didn't know if someone was going to throw something at you or if someone was going to take a shot at you,' Owens said. 'Very intense time.' After the violence was brought under control, President Johnson toured the damage from the air, Secret Service agent Clint Hill, then head of the president's protective detail, told The Washington Post in 2018. 'It was quite a sight to behold. It was unbelievable. A major portion of the city had actually burned, and it's something I'll never forget,' said Hill, who was was tragically familiar with witnessing tragic events. Only five years earlier, Hill had rescued Jacqueline Kennedy in a moving limousine after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in a Dallas motorcade. '(The riots) left this pall over the community,' said DeFerrari. 'Devastation and a sense of the old community being lost, and what is the replacement of that?' It is the second time this year President Trump has posted guard members on the streets of a city whose leaders didn't ask for it. The president federalized 4,000 California National Guard troops in June in response to immigration protests in downtown Los Angeles that had turned confrontational with federal agents. Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration, contesting Trump's legal ability to take over the state guard without an open 'rebellion' against the government. A judge is considering whether to declare that the president's action illegal following a three-day bench trial. But circumstances are much different in Washington, a federally controlled district that does not have the same constitutional protections as states. 'Yes, the president can deploy the National Guard in DC, and they are allowed to perform law enforcement functions,' said CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig. Still, even the president does not have unilateral control over the city. By law, Trump cannot extend his 30-day takeover of DC law enforcement without the approval of Congress, which is on its summer recess, unless he declares a national emergency. The District's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, filed suit against the Trump administration Friday, arguing the president has already exceeded his authority by trying to force the Metropolitan Police Department to accept a new 'emergency commissioner,' something Schwalb called a 'hostile takeover' of the department. It took decades of redevelopment and gentrification, but the communities left in ruins after the 1968 uprising now show no visible signs of the violence that upended the city. DC's Shaw neighborhood is now billed by the city's marketing organization as filled with 'cool local shops, foodie restaurants, concert halls and African American history.' Row houses in what were once considered dangerous streets now sell for more than a million dollars. For those who have seen the devastation and rebuilding of the city up close, the decision to call in the military now is especially troubling. 'I think there very clearly is not an emergency in many Washingtonians' minds,' said DeFerrari. 'I think many Washingtonians think that this is quite unnecessary.'

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Despite Trump's tough tone now, things were much worse in Washington when National Guard was rolled out in 1968

President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" Will Speed Up the Timeline to Social Security Benefit Cuts, New Analysis Finds

Despite Trump's tough tone now, things were much worse in Washington when National Guard was rolled out in 1968

Tennessee town approves deals to turn closed prison into immigration detention facility

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Despite Trump's tough tone now, things were much worse in Washington when National Guard was rolled out in 1968

President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" Will Speed Up the Timeline to Social Security Benefit Cuts, New Analysis Finds

Despite Trump's tough tone now, things were much worse in Washington when National Guard was rolled out in 1968

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