Trump's Interior Secretary Repeats Weird D.C. Restaurant Claim
While some data suggests the federal takeover may be scaring away diners, the Trump team keeps insisting that the very opposite is happening.
Appearing on Fox Business Wednesday morning, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum touted Trump's crackdown, which is strongly opposed by most D.C. residents.
Burgum cited alleged decreases in carjackings and robberies—apparently, week-over-week percent decreases reported by D.C.'s police union, from which little can actually be concluded (in part because, as one conservative commentator observed, 'robbery and property crime reports often lag the date of the incident by a week or more, making any short-term comparison like this liable to look more favorable than is true of the situation on the ground').
Burgum also said restaurant reservations are 'up 30 percent,' in a 'dramatic change.' Here, the interior secretary was echoing Trump's baseless claim earlier this week that restaurants are 'busier than they've been in a long time.'
As D.C.'s local Fox station reports, restaurant attendance was down each day during the first week of Trump's crackdown on the capital compared with the same week last year. The most significant plunge took place last Wednesday, when reservation numbers fell by 31 percent.
Conveniently overlooking these facts, Burgum seemingly narrowed in on data from Monday, which saw a 29 percent year-over-year increase in reservations made via the online service OpenTable.
However, this increase took place on the first day of the city's summer Restaurant Week, during which local eateries offer promotional deals. Restaurant Week 2024 took place a week earlier, also potentially affecting last week's numbers.
Reservation data aside, The Washington Post reports that Trump's actions in D.C. have sent restaurant owners reeling.
One said that 'reservations are low, low, low' and 'the city is dead.'
Another, who said this month is on track to be the slowest August in his restaurant's seven-year history (peak pandemic years included), told the Post that 'seeing law enforcement—armored and plainclothed—in the neighborhood, casing our building and looking into our windows, definitely put guests and staff on edge.'
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