A riotous weekend in DC not far from the the Veeps residence set the perfect framing for why the time had come for Trump’s big news about changes coming to DC.
His White House site gave a summary of what he’d be announcing:
“This is Liberation Day in D.C. — and we’re going to take our capital BACK.”
“We’re declaring a public safety emergency in the District of Columbia — and Attorney General Pam Bondi is taking command of the Metropolitan Police Department as of this moment.”
“They’ll immediately begin massive enforcement operations targeting known gangs, drug dealers and criminal networks to get them the hell off the street.”
“The murder rate in Washington today is higher than that of Bogotá, Colombia, Mexico City… The number of car thefts has doubled over the past five years, and the number of carjackings has more than tripled.”
“This dire public safety crisis stems directly from the abject failures of the city’s local leadership.”
And that WAS part of it. (Whole video here:)
The same Act of Congress that gave Washington DC the authority of self-rule included a clause that empowers the Executive Branch to assume control of the District’s police force should they fail to meet the challenges of keeping the city safe.
Right at the beginning of the press conference, Trump invoked some stats that have been circulating on the internet lately showing that Washington DC has higher per-capita crime problem than many foreign countries we would consider ‘unsafe’. And not just by a little bit. We’re talking orders of magnitude larger.
While some of the other issues of the day — including his upcoming meeting with Putin — the major thrust of this press conference was taking back the national capitol so that it could be safely enjoyed by the taxpayers who make it possible.
The restoriation and beautification of DC has several layers. The homeless camps and open-air drug dens that have cropped up around DC are on their way out, with the people being relocated, and the trash cleaned up.
Criminal gangs will be targeted. Foreign-born offenders will be sent home. Home-grown offenders will be turned over to law enforcement. Roads and medians will be repaired and repaved. Graffiti will be removed from monuments.
If the DC police and their federal partners need help in restoring order, Pete Hegseth has has some resources he can make available to cover any manpower shortfalls.
