What Trump Is Really Up to in Washington

New York Times

17 hours ago

You do not need the strongest powers of observation to see that crime is a pretext — and not the main reason — for the military occupation of Washington, D.C., by federal agents and soldiers from the National Guard.
If the president cared about crime, he would push House Republicans to restore the $1 billion Congress cut from the city's budget, so that Washington could fully staff its Metropolitan Police Department and pay for the services and personnel necessary to keep the city safe. He might fill vacancies at the U.S. attorney's office in Washington and on the local Superior Court, to help federal and municipal officials bring cases to fruition. Looking beyond Washington, he might also have kept federal agents assigned to actual criminal cases, rather than move them to immigration enforcement or saddle them with investigations of his political enemies. If the president cared about crime, he would not have pardoned the Jan. 6 rioters, many of whom have gone on to commit violent crimes in their communities.
Still, President Trump's obvious indifference to the actual work of preventing criminal victimization has not stopped some professional political observers from defending the occupation of Washington on the grounds that there is crime in the city. 'I have no doubt that Trump enjoys targeting Democratic-controlled cities for embarrassment,' Michael Powell wrote in The Atlantic, conceding that this deployment is pretextual. But, he added, 'I also have little doubt that a mother in Ward 8 might draw comfort from a National Guard soldier standing watch near her child's school.'
Ward 8 is a disproportionately low-income area of Washington that covers the southernmost quadrant of the city, where the violent crime rate is significantly higher than it is in other parts of the city. One assumes that there are actual residents of the area you could speak with to understand their view of the situation. There's no reason to ventriloquize an imagined person when there are real ones with thoughts to share.
To this point, my newsroom colleague Clyde McGrady spoke to people in Congress Heights, a neighborhood in Ward 8. 'If Trump is genuinely concerned about the safety of D.C. residents,' one resident said, 'I would see National Guard in my neighborhood. I'm not seeing it, and I don't expect to see it. I don't think Trump is bringing in the National Guard to protect Black babies in Southeast.'
You won't find the National Guard in any of the city's high crime areas. The vast majority of soldiers and agents deployed to Washington are stationed in the vicinity of the White House and other high-profile sections of the city. There are soldiers patrolling the National Mall; armored vehicles parked at Union Station; and ICE agents manning checkpoints on U Street, an area known for its bars, restaurants and nightlife. They're not there for safety, but for show.
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