Anti-Trump activist's bid to debunk DC crime wave backfires

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

However, the account was quickly inundated with comments from locals that only served to prove that Trump 's law enforcement takeover is warranted. The X account wrote: 'Hey DC , let's push back against the negative narrative about our city. Share why you love our beautiful home and help show the world the real DC.' Testimonials came in thick and fast from people who had been the victims of serious crimes - who were happy that the National Guard are being deployed.
'I've been held up at gunpoint, had my car broken into 3 times, and had my bike stolen. My credit card has been skimmed too many times to count and I can't send my kids to public school here because they're a joke,' wrote Bret Manley, a children's book author based in the D.C. area. Multiple people wrote that they or people they knew have been robbed or mugged in front of police officers who declined to intervene. 'My car was broken into. One friend had a car stolen from in front of his place, another was carjacked at gun point. I've had to assist someone who was shot while I was just trying to drunkenly make my way home from a bar,' another person wrote. '[expletive] you. Thank god for the new enforcement.'
Grayson Quay, a conservative writer and former editor at The Daily Caller, wrote about a time he was assaulted on the Metro. 'It was really cool when a guy headbutted me on the metro after I asked him to stop blasting music through his phone speakers,' he wrote. 'And then there was the time a [expletive] spat on me for no reason.'
Tim Kennedy, a producer for outlet The Daily Signal, recalled a quadruple shooting at King Street Oyster Bar in August 2024 that killed two people. 'The D.C. chief of police blamed the restaurant for not properly locking up their patio at night,' Kennedy wrote. 'No, this actually happened.'
The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) released a statement at the time saying that the restaurant, which was closed at the time of the shooting, failed to secure its patio and allowed people to gather. 'Without preventative measures, the open patio contributed to the group establishing themselves and continue to grow, leading to the gun violence that resulted in four people being shot, two of which are deceased, and significant property damage,' the department said in a statement.
Other commenters talked about the mental toll of living in a city with high crime, including conservative political strategist Sarah Selip. 'As a woman #TheRealDC means carrying pepper spray day and night. Not wearing headphones after dark. Taking off your engagement ring when walking the dogs,' she wrote. The more constructive replies to Washingtonian Problems accused the account of being tone deaf and unwilling to acknowledge reality. 'It's a beautiful city but it's not negativity to admit that the crime is out of control,' one person wrote.
The same day Washingtonian Problems made this post attempting to 'push back against the negative narrative about our city,' a man was shot to death in D.C.'s Logan Circle neighborhood. As of August 2025, violent crime has plummeted by 26 percent since last year, according to the MPD . Homicide is down 11 percent, while sexual abuse offenses have been cut in half.
However, there is potentially reason to doubt these statistics, since MPD placed 3rd District Commander Michael Pulliam on leave last month over accusations of manipulating crime data. D.C. Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton told NBC 4 he doesn't believe there has been as large of a crime drop as local officials have claimed.
'There's potentially a drop from where we were in 2023. I think that there's a possibility that crime has come down. But the department is reporting that in 2024, crime went down 35 percent -- violent crime – and another 25 percent through August of this year,' Pemberton said. 'That is preposterous to suggest that cumulatively we've seen 60-plus percent drops in violent crime from where we were in '23, because we're out on the street. We know the calls we're responding to,' he added. Since Trump took over the MPD and mobilized the National Guard, the White House claimed that more than 100 people have been arrested.