As Trump takes over Washington, the city watches for potential fallout

Globe and Mail

2 days ago

In the seven years that he's been living on the streets near the White House, Daniel Kingery has had no shortage of experience getting rousted by the police. He has even done multiple stretches in jail – from a few days to a few weeks – on charges related to refusing to leave Lafayette and McPherson squares. Upon release each time, he's simply come back and taken up residency again.
So when Mr. Kingery heard that U.S. President Donald Trump was dispatching the National Guard to Washington and taking control of the local police force to crack down on crime and homeless encampments, he reacted with a shrug.
'It wouldn't really matter if the police told me to go,' said the 64-year-old, sporting a white Santa Claus beard and surrounded by handmade political signs as he sat outside a metro station entrance at midday Tuesday. 'If the National Guard does come around, I will try to inform them that what they're doing is unconstitutional.'
National Guard arrive in Washington, marking start to Trump's federal takeover of the capital
Mr. Kingery said he had noticed more Department of Homeland Security vehicles parked around Lafayette Square over the last several nights, with their lights on all night. He wasn't sure, however, if this was related to Mr. Trump's Monday announcement: In the already heavily policed centre of the U.S. capital, it's not unusual to see officers from a half-dozen agencies milling around.
The day after Mr. Trump ordered 800 guardsmen to the city and placed the city's Metropolitan Police Department under federal control, the scene on the streets was relatively quiet. It was still unclear what the full extent of the clampdown, intended to combat what Mr. Trump claims is a crisis of lawlessness, would be.
National Guard members gathered at the D.C. Armory. Social media images emerged of Federal Bureau of Investigation and border patrol officers walking the beat in the U Street and Navy Yard bar districts over the last several nights. And the White House said 23 people were arrested across the city Monday night, resulting in charges ranging from fare evasion on public transport to 'lewd acts' to homicide.
But it remains to be seen how far the law enforcement surge in the city will go, or how it will be different from what the local force was already doing. Department of Justice figures show that violent crime fell to a 30-year low in Washington last year. The city, meanwhile, says that it has cleared hundreds of homeless encampments in recent years, including more than 100 last year alone.
Under the 1970s legislation that granted the District of Columbia a local government, the president retained the authority to retake control of the police force for up to 30 days in the event of an emergency. Mr. Trump is the first president to exercise this power, drawing accusations of authoritarianism.
On a street corner outside the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Alan Simon said he had been hit by the crackdown. Selling fruit smoothies and bottled water in the blazing 30 C sunshine a little after noon, he said U.S. Park Police had kicked him out of his prime spot for not having the right permit. In his three years of street vending, the 46-year-old said, this had never happened before.
'This is the first wave of it, right here. They didn't profile me yesterday. They didn't profile me last week. But now, because of the Trump stuff, I have to leave,' Mr. Simon said as he gathered up his things.
He dismissed Mr. Trump's portrayal of Washington as a city out of control. 'I know the real deal. Tell him to come out here and experience it. I can give him the whole picture.'
Some of Mr. Simon's fellow vendors expressed support for the President's actions.
'It's a good idea because it's for the safety of the people,' said Beatrice Richards, 51, as she set up a table selling political memorabilia, including Make America Great Again hats, outside the Commerce Department. She added, however, that she would prefer to see police dispatched to the city's southeast quadrant, an area with a disproportionate share of violence. 'Here, there is no crime,' she said of the city centre.
Billy Pollard, 63, said he had encountered 'aggressive panhandling' in the city over the years and hoped Mr. Trump could put a stop to it. 'It's a wonderful idea what he's doing. I live in this town and there's a lot of crime. If he's cleaning it up, it's high time.'
The American Civil Liberties Union, for its part, pointed to the actions of federal authorities in Washington during the anti-racism protests following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 as the possible shape of things to come. In one episode, police used pepper spray and tear gas to clear protesters out of Lafayette Square before a photo op by Mr. Trump. National Guardsmen also flew a military helicopter low over a group of protesters in a bid to disperse them.
'We've seen before how federal control of the D.C. National Guard and police can lead to abuse, intimidation, and civil rights violations,' Monica Hopkins, head of the ACLU's D.C. branch, said in a statement.
Reaction from the city's political leadership was notably less muted. Following a meeting with Attorney-General Pam Bondi, Mayor Muriel Bowser shied away from criticizing the White House and instead cheered the benefits of having more boots on the streets.
Ms. Bowser, a Democrat who once staunchly opposed Mr. Trump, has spent the last several months trying to appease him in a bid to avoid him taking over the city government. Most notably, she had letters reading 'Black Lives Matter' erased from a city street near Lafayette Square earlier this year.
Outside the White House, a handful of protesters gathered Tuesday afternoon. Lyn DeWitt, a resident of the Washington area for the past 50 years, said homelessness was just a pretext for the President to fulfill his desire to expand his power. In any event, she argued, the issue wouldn't be solved by sending in the police.
'A lot of cities know the answer to the problem and it's to find housing and incorporate social services with it. You can't just jail people or shuffle them off,' she said. 'There are thoughtful and careful people working on this, and Donald Trump is not one of them.'