In Trump’s DC safety crackdown, conflict and compromise play out in tandem
The images are austere: spectators screaming “go home, fascists”, while local and federal officers patrol the streets of Washington, DC, people hitting pots and pots at 8 am while residents protest against the presence of the additional federal police. Walkers deducting at Pennsylvania avenue with all caps banners saying: “Trump must go now.”
But a week after President Donald Trump announced a “public security emergency” – leading to a temporary federal takeover of the DC police and a mobilization of the National Guard – the public reaction is not all unilateral. Some residents actually support the presence of additional security, noting that DC crime remains high, even in the midst of improvements. The demonstrations in progress throughout the city and more federal troops arriving, the DC leaders strive to defuse tensions.
For Mayor Muriel Bowser, finding ways to cooperate with President Trump can be essential. The president’s lawyers have already examined how to overthrow the home rule for Washington, which would put him under the control of the federal government. But even without this threat, the mayor tries to ensure public security and respect for local governance, according to analysts.
Why we wrote this
The mobilization of troops by President Donald Trump to eliminate crime in the American capital left the mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, walking in a tightrope and relying on his long -standing working relations with Trump.
The mayor “found a good balance between negotiating and leaning on when possible, and repelling strategic moments,” explains Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University. “There is, of course, no exact rules of rules on how to answer this.”
Caitlin Babcock / The Christian Science Monitor
Indeed, while the American capital enters its second week with a federal police service, the mayor Bowser walks a tightrope. The city votes massively democratic – Mr. Trump only obtained 6.5% of the votes last November – and Ms. Bowser faces enormous pressure to stand up to him. But his second mandate was devoted to the power of executive power, including this threat to eliminate local government.
New influx of national guard troops
In recent days, several Republican governors have announced their agreement to send the national guard troops to Washington at the request of the Trump administration, with deployments ranging from 300 to 400 from Virginia-Western, 200 from South Carolina, 200 of Mississippi, 160 of Tennessee, 150 of Ohio and 135 of Louisiana. They will join the 800 members of the National Guard DC already deployed by Mr. Trump. Their role will be to support the application of federal and local laws in the fight against crime and homelessness, not arrests. Some will carry firearms, depending on the reports.
These movements constitute a violation of local sovereignty, say local opponents.
The 1973 Home Rule Act gave to the Columbia Federal District established by the constitution of the right to elect its own government. Over the years, relations with the DC-Federals have been largely harmonious, although there have been tensions, especially during public disorders. Efforts to make the district, an enclave of 700,000 inhabitants, the 51st state has long been blocked in the congress.
In general, Ms. Bowser, in office since 2015, had a good working relationship with Mr. Trump. They collaborated in the conclusion of an agreement to build a new football stadium and move the Washington team NFL in Maryland in the district. But in some cases, when he grows hard, she does not hesitate to repel.
Ms. Bowser faced Mr. Trump in 2020 when massive street demonstrations broke out after the murder of George Floyd by a minneapolis police officer. To commemorate Mr. Floyd and the civil rights movement that her death sparked, she declared a block north of the Black Lives Matz Plaza White House, the words painted in large yellow letters in the street.
But after Mr. Trump’s return this year, the mayor had these white houses from the White House withdrawn, saying: “We have more big people to fry.”
Ms. Bowser seemed to rely on this history of relations management with Mr. Trump on Friday, when the Trump administration tried to install the director of the administration of the drug application as “DC emergency police commissioner”. Ms. Bowser’s team continued quickly and a judge of the Federal District Court threatened to intervene. A rapid negotiation between the Trump administration and the city officials resolved the specific issue.
Ms. Bowser clearly indicated her dismay on Monday in the face of Mr. Trump’s foray into DC’s law enforcement, both in press points and on social networks. Two days earlier, she wrote on the social platform X, “American soldiers and American police on American soil are #unamerican”.
At the same time, Ms. Bowser tried to get ahead of the federal police whenever possible. Last week, after the Trump administration threatened fines and prison terms for the homeless, she ordered the city of Bulldozer a homeless camp near Lincoln Memorial.
Pushing this time, however, is not easy.
“She is roughly in a position without gain, and she does not have much power in this dynamic,” explains Professor Dallek.
A question of intentions
DC leaders noted that if the Trump administration and the Republican controlled congress were seriously aimed at improving security in the national capital, they would restore the funding of $ 1 billion in the city reduced earlier this year. The DC Metropolitan Police Department is in chronic sub-employment of almost a quarter, with only 3,100 officers on a desired force of 4,000.
At the same time, federal police do not seem to be deployed in the highest sections of the city. A card of the Washington Post shows few additional officers positioned east of the Anacostia river in districts 7 and 8, two of these high crime sections, which are also mainly African-American.
“These additional police officers are only protecting tourists,” said an angry resident in the Anacostia district in district 8, who asked not to be appointed. “The problem is black violence on black.”
Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP
Many columnists have pushed the idea that DC has no crime problem, despite the decrease in crime since 2023. Last year, violent crime has decreased, wrote Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute, but “the city has still experienced almost ten violent crimes per day, nearly six flights, nearly three attacks with a dangerous weapon.
“Everywhere else in the industrialized world, the situation of DC crime would constitute a national emergency,” writes Ms. Mac Donald. “In the United States, he should also the United States.”
Former vice-president Mike Pence, speaking on CNN on Sunday, approved the deployment of the president’s national guard in Washington. It was a rare moment of agreement between the president and his former n ° 2, which fell during January 6, 2021, Riot at the Capitol. Observers do not find a little irony in the support of Mr. Trump today for the law and the order after his forgiveness of around 1,500 January the defendants earlier this year.
Museums with steps
Last weekend, the first since Mr. Trump’s announcement, especially a clear sky made robust protest demonstrations, although complementing among the hundreds of people, nothing near the most famous marches in the city. A couple visiting Seattle said they had come to see museums and decided to join a demonstration at the White House afterwards.
“What Trump does is just a complete madness,” said Marjorie Bunday, a music administrator from the DC region. “I mean, I know he has the right to take control of the DC police forces, because the district is a very unusual place. But his threats to prolong this, you know, Chicago, New York – it’s an absolute crazy conversation.”
The recent deployment of national guard troops by Trump in Los Angeles, without the approval of the Governor of California, has also alarmed certain observers. A federal judge should rule on the legality of deployment in the coming weeks.
