Trump just announced that he is federalizing the DC police and deploying the National Guard to D.C., allegedly to “combat crime”, in a city where crime statistics are down both since last year and over the past decade. It’s hard to imagine a more aggressive move to end democracy than sending in troops to occupy D.C.
At some point there is going to be a deadly confrontation where citizens or military personnel (or both) are going to die. I believe the shit will truly hit the fan at that point.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking “this is the Rubicon.” There will be a hundred small Rubicons.
This is a big one, to be sure. But there have already been others, and there are more still to come.
DC has always been a weird duck. There’s no doubt that the Federal government has always had the power to exercise the option to rule it directly, even if they’ve mostly devolved that onto the city government.
There’s often been people expressing the notion, “Hey, Feds, if you think X is such a good idea about how to run a government program, why not do it in DC first, and show us all how brilliant you are?” So maybe this is the chance to see what exactly happens when they try to do just that.
Does anyone here think that Trump’s cavalcade of incompetents will actually manage to do a good job at local law enforcement?
It’s another feint in the direction of autocracy without the prep that would give it muscle. The LA troops were provocative but ultimately a fizzle in terms of forward momentum for a Putsch. This will be too.
I have seen zero reason to believe that “local law enforcement” has anything to do with these orders.
One step and one day closer to the end of American Democracy?
Using the The Home Rule Act is quite bold I guess.
A fake “emergency” that hardly seems urgent even by the twisted logic used, to abuse a law that hasn’t been used before.
I just made the title a lot less vague.
Which National Guard would that be? Is there a DC National Guard?
Yes, there is.
And here’s Trump’s answer: “You’re going to have a lot of essentially military — and we will bring in the military if it’s needed, by the way,” Trump told reporters in the White House Briefing Room. “We’re going to have National Guard, but (Defense Secretary) Pete Hegseth will tell you about, we will bring in the military, if needed… I don’t think we’ll need it, I think we’ve got so many great people, including the people that are in the police department.”
I was just reading this.
In contrast to Trump’s rhetoric, since Trump sent in agents they are dealing with far more mundane affairs. NPR reported that on Sunday night, at least two dozen agents were on the scene responding to a minor traffic accident between a car and a moped. That is hardly something that needs more than a response from local police—D.C. has a police force of more than 3,000 officers.
See the article for more examples.
Is it a coincidence that he’s deployed Federal resources to Los Angeles and DC, both of which are Democratic cities with black women mayors?
Yes, much like it’s a coincidence that ducks quack.
I’m going to be pedantic for a bit here: There is no such thing as a “small Rubicon”.
Having said that, the point of no return for the Orange One will be when he gores some prominent supporter’s ox. I don’t know who that supporter is, or what the ox will be, but as he’s thrashing about, chasing shadows and making enemies wherever he goes, it’s bound to happen sooner or later. I thought it was going to be Elon - and it still might be - but I don’t think it’ll be Lindsay Graham or McConnell. It’ll be someone who the majority of MAGAs hold in very high regard, and let’s face it, MAGAs don’t hold any career politician in high regard. Bannon, perhaps?
Memphis is number one most dangerous city, and St. Louis is number 4, but he never talks about those because they’re in red states.
At least someone will be handling them. Like in most large cities it’s difficult to impossible to get the police involved in minor traffic accidents. Of course not a good use of the FBI or other agencies. As for the OP, no this isn’t it. The DC Guard is directly under control of the president through the SECDEF. It’s unique in that way, there is no duel state control. DC is such a different situation that he can pretend to be doing something substantial and authoritarian but it won’t amount to much. If he attempts to take over a city that isn’t under federal jurisdiction that’s an entirely different matter
If you could convince Trump that taking a dump on the White House lawn at high noon would distract people from the Epstein files, he would do it in a heartbeat. That is probably the only reason is Federalizing the police.
The Guard will probably do about the same thing they did in LA. Stand around in small groups doing nothing.
If by good job you mean that the innocent are treated well and fairly, no.
If by good job you mean a decline in the homicide rate, maybe. I’ll even say probably.
In 2024, the homicide rate was 5.8 times higher in DC than NYC. And 2024 was a bad year for New York, and a good one for the district. In 2023 the homicide rate was 9.6 times higher in the capitol than in our most populous city. So there is plenty of room for DC improvement, a trend that Trump can grab onto with a little luck, and brag about. Plus, look at El Salvador. Authoritarian law enforcement can lower crime.
Trump isn’t going to fail at everything. Even assuming fair elections, getting rid of MAGA with the November 2028 election isn’t definitie, because the GOP will have some successes. As to whether this will be one of the partial successes, I predict, with great chance of being wrong, yes.
While it’s a terrible look, and equally terrifying foreshadowing of what I expect from this administration, there may be [whistling past the gallows time] an upside! From what many ex-military posters here and other places have said, there’s nothing quite like being forced into doing absolutely unneeded work, following stupid orders, and being hot and uncomfortable so someone else looks good.
I mean, the military is already stuck (to the point of trope-dom) doing a countless amount of all of the above, but most of the ex-military I’ve spoken with really hate doing what they consider “photo-op / political BS” stuff. Of course, it’s a military purged at the top of anyone who will gainsay Trump, but if he alienates a small fraction of the rank-and-file, I’ll take my heavily-tarnished silver lining in light of the Autocratic (legal or not) actions.