Trump's Washington crime crackdown has wokies howling while law-abiding approve – so isn't it time we tried it here?

Scottish Sun

19 hours ago

WHEN I recently landed Stateside, even my most right-on friends took me aside with hushed tones to warn which bits of town are strictly out of bounds.
As a new arrival in Washington DC, I was immediately told to stay in my lane, never go to certain postcodes and never take the metro after sunset.
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The FBI have led the multi-agency crackdown to clean up the streets of Washington DC
Credit: Getty
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The streets of DC have been swamped with federal agents, national guards and armoured vehicles
Credit: The Mega Agency
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US President Donald Trump ordered the clean up after a White House staffer was attacked
Credit: Getty
Quite why was never exactly spelt out, but after a teenage White House staffer was beaten up at 3am just a few streets from where I now live, it went without saying.
Edward Coristine, 19, better known by his online nickname 'Big Balls', hit global headlines after being knocked seven shades of Sunday by two fellow teens in an attempted carjacking earlier this month.
As a minor celebrity in the Trump administration, after he worked with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, Big Balls' beating became far more than just another crime statistic in one of the most dangerous cities on the planet.
Donald Trump used the shocking image of the bloodied lad to call time on rampant violence at the iconic heart of America.
The President declared this week: 'I'm announcing a historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor, and worse.
Drug-addled crazy
'Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals — roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people.'
He later followed up with a customary social media rant, writing: 'Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN!'
Since then, the streets of DC have been swamped with federal agents, national guards and vehicles that would not look out of place on an actual battlefield.
The internet is awash with videos of raids, checkpoints and patrols that have driven the lefties, who mostly make up this city, round the bend.
Rough-sleeping encampments that have sprung up in cities across the west have been visibly dismantled, despite howls from roving protesters.
Five US cities where Donald Trump could next launch militarized crime crackdown as DC launch exposes Democrat failures
So far, so good, many normal and non-deranged residents have said.
But you know what really takes the biscuit? Those very same right-on types that have their rules about where never to stroll are the very same ones saying the President has overstepped the mark, overreacted, is playing a political game or — among the most hysterical — sliding into all-out fascism.
Better-off folk who live in nice bits of the city wax lyrical about how great things are, and how it's all a big stunt.
Yet they are the same ones who shade out parts of the map, with warning signs, to new arrivals.
Because they personally may not have been victims of crime, everything is clearly tickety-boo.
Everyone knows someone who has witnessed something shocking, or had their own car broken into or turned a blind eye to a drug-addled crazy on their walk to work
Harry Cole
But drill down a little and everyone has a different story to tell.
Everyone knows someone who has witnessed something shocking, or had their own car broken into or turned a blind eye to a drug-addled crazy on their walk to work.
Trump's political enemies have walked straight into another one of his traps, as they defend the rights of violent criminals and gang-fuelled youths to roam and rampage on the streets at will.
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Law enforcement agencies are following Trump's instructions to take tough action
Credit: Getty
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The President's critics claim the approach is too heavy-handed and targets the vulnerable
Credit: Reuters
With him seizing control of the local police structures and deploying federal powers, the Democrats warn that the President's actions in the capital are a mere overture for similar action in crime-ridden Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.
But most law-abiding residents seem either remarkably unfazed by it all, or actively welcome somebody finally getting a grip.
While the row rages on American networks over whether crime is actually falling in DC, if murder rates are down, or if the number of shootings and carjackings have in fact slumped since the pandemic, most normal people I have met are not upset to see something finally being done.
The same arguments are being had in London and Washington. Yet it's surely time to do something about it rather than bury our heads in the sand
Harry Cole
Which got me thinking. If an American friend was landing in Britain, I would give them the exact- same briefing — which bits of town to avoid, where never to get your phone out and why it's best not to talk to nutters on buses.
The same arguments are being had in London and Washington. Yet it's surely time to do something about it rather than bury our heads in the sand.
People can see a marked decline in living standards due to muggings, snatchings, shoplifting, graffiti and all the rest.
All the while, coppers are either dancing in the street, for clout on TikTok, or seemingly kicking in the doors of all the wrong people.
Shovel a shelf of Greggs pastries into a bin bag in broad daylight and walk out, or tweet something daft and repent in haste . . . guess who is going to prison?
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Many in the UK would like to see Donald Trump's strong messaging and action
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Publicly, ministers and well-off commentators point to fig-leaf statistics that overall crime is falling, while normal people use just their eyes and ears to tell a different story.
Take the princeling of woke, podcaster Lewis Goodall, who frothed this week: 'London is being set up as this dystopian hellhole where you can barely walk out of your door . . . it's a Trump import!'
Accusing anyone of calling out the noticeable rise in crime as a 'far-right' goon, he went on: 'London lives rent-free in their heads as it's living proof of how completely wrong they are — they have to lie about it!'
Yet these virtue-signalling types, who tell Brits they've never had it so good, are falling into the exact-same traps as Trump's critics.
While no one can accuse Sir Keir Starmer of having Donald Trump's flair, turn of phrase or gumption, the UK government could do worse than take a leaf out of the President's playbook this week
The argument about whether sending in the heavies is mere theatrics, or will have a lasting effect, is still playing out here. But most fair-minded people, I suspect, would rather this than simply turning a blind eye to reality.
While no one can accuse Sir Keir Starmer of having Donald Trump's flair, turn of phrase or gumption, the UK government could do worse than take a leaf out of the President's playbook this week.
Like tough action on the US border has seen illegal immigration into the United States from Mexico grind to a halt, tough action on crime would be another no-brainer vote-winner.
Just ignore the hypocrites.
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Homelessness and poverty is the major problem in Washington DC
Credit: James Breeden for The Sun