Though I guess the loop hole here is that the National Guard would in this case be acting under "state authority" given that typically state-like actions for DC are deferred to Congress. The open question being whether the Executive branch could act independently, or whether they still need explicit authorization from Congress.
The "30-year low in violent crime" still puts DC ahead of every state in homicide rate. If DC were a country, it would rank somewhere around the top 20 most murderous. Venezuela, a literal failed state, has a lower homicide rate. Russia, the dysfunctional kleptocracy that it is, is less than a third as murderous as DC.
Might not the people of DC deserve better? Is it possible that problems exist in real life outside of "media attention"?
One way to now a chess match is about to begin is to see people place pieces on a chessboard. There is no thread of our possible history that is colored 'good' for the next couple of years that starts off with deploying the NG in Washington, D.C. As a pre-emptive move it is an overt threat and as a response to something that is actually happening it is complete overkill. Either way, trouble is brewing.
>There is no thread of our possible history that is colored 'good' for the next couple of years that starts off with deploying the NG in Washington, D.C.
What if it helps clean up the homeless encampments and crime like Gavin Newsom did in San Francisco when Xi visited recently? That would be good!
D.C. is a dump and has been my entire life. There's been a drop in homicides since the peak in 2023, but last year was still 15% higher than in 2019: https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/01/02/homicid.... In 2023, the homicide rate in D.C. was 39 per 100k people. This is only a little better than the civilian death rate in Iraq when it peaked in 2014 during ISIS (that was around 50 per 100k).
This is not a "guns" issue, it's a policing issue. Idaho has among the most guns of any state in the union, and Boise is as safe as a western European city, with 1/30th the homicide rate of D.C. Even several large U.S. cities, like Austin, El Paso, and Virginia Beach, have homicide rates 1/10th or less of D.C.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b....
D.C. is a rich city surrounded by wealthy suburbs. There's no reason for it to be as unsafe as decaying post-industrial cities like Philadelphia or Baltimore.
In March 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, announced that she would deploy 750 members of the National Guard to New York’s subway system.
Troops in military uniforms patrolled the subway with rifles.
Nobody raised an eye and nobody in this thread apparently even remembers.
National Guard has deployed to Washington DC dozens of times already - many times to combat crime and disturbances. (Technically hundreds of times if you count inaugurations).
Too much of the focus is on Trump and not nearly enough on the people who are willing to vote for such an obviously corrupt conman. Trump will be dead within a decade, but these voters who actually want a dictator as long as he hurts the people they think should be hurt will be voting for generations.
Trump is a symptom of the cancer of conservatism. He’s the inevitable result of conservative politics and positioning over the last 40+ years. The GOP wanted to make an environment where their guy could never be punished for watergate levels of blatant criminal offense and they fucking succeeded.
In case this isn't a rhetorical question, the homicide rate in DC is such that it beats out all 50 states by a considerable amount[0]. (The most murderous state, Louisiana, is roughly half as murderous as DC.)
There were over 5000 auto thefts reported last year[1] in an area that has about 350k registered cars. Statistically speaking, more than one in a hundred cars were stolen in one year!
Similarly, there were roughly 26k cases of property crime reported for an overall rate of property crime victimization of 3-4% of the population.
If I lived in DC, my day-to-day life would be affected a whole lot more by this level of disorder than a political event that took place on one day in one building. Of course, you're free to value things differently, but it's an indictment of how much antisocial behavior some Americans are willing to tolerate that people are shocked by the statement that "crime in DC is bad".
That is not wise. (I'm ignoring the question of whether it's legal or constitutional or justified. Those are important questions. They matter. But for this comment, I'm ignoring them.)
Trump just made himself owner of the crime rate in DC. Every crime that occurs there is now Trump's failure. That is not something that he's going to want.
He can, of course, almost completely stop crime in Washington D.C. Simply ignore all rights -- something this admin is getting really eager to do -- and then dump enormous, completely irrational amounts of resources into it. Boom, big win and look at how crime-free the empty streets are, aside from the dozen police on every corner, snipers on every roof.
Is there anything to learn from that? Of course not. Aside from the liberty for security trade, should every town increase the police budget by 50x? Is that actually a solution for anyone?
So you endorse using federal military resources to secure a city that is not the most dangerous place in the country and that is at generational lows for violent crime?
And you are okay with this in the context of a pedophile rapist felon traitorous president who is bent on vengeance, a famously thin skin and a primate's view of the use of power?
I have this theory that one easy way to curry favor with Trump is tell him about some previously esoteric/unused power the executive has. So much of what he does seems to just be because he can do it, and not because it actually has a real goal or purpose. Like a kid playing with toys. I realize he says that tariffs are meant to bring in revenue or increase domestic manufacturing or [pick random reason]. Or that he's doing this due to DC apparently turning into Fallujah but looking back over his first term and now this one, its the same pattern.
They need to fully test their boundaries before midterms. It probably helps that SCOTUS is overturning injunctions now while things are kind of mellow.
I choose to believe that trump's whole campaign is motivated out of spite for getting ribbed after the birther movement. Everything he does, he does it to flabbergast the democrats "because he can"
The main motivation is narcissistic supply. He knows people will be angry. He sops up the attention.
For him at least I don’t think there’s anything deeper other than he found this way to get people to either adore him or hate him. In either case he’s the center of attention.
Once the toy he stops generating attention, he will get bored and he will find a new toy.
It was. I was there. The National Guard was delayed until like 6 pm but they were definitely there locking down the ENTIRE city. They stayed for days afterwards. It even says so in the link you provided.
89 comments
[ 2.0 ms ] story [ 84.6 ms ] threadThough I guess the loop hole here is that the National Guard would in this case be acting under "state authority" given that typically state-like actions for DC are deferred to Congress. The open question being whether the Executive branch could act independently, or whether they still need explicit authorization from Congress.
Let's hope it doesn't have the same effect (ie the eventual fall of the republic)
[1] No military weapons were allowed inside this boundary of ancient Rome. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomerium
Might not the people of DC deserve better? Is it possible that problems exist in real life outside of "media attention"?
What if it helps clean up the homeless encampments and crime like Gavin Newsom did in San Francisco when Xi visited recently? That would be good!
D.C. is a dump and has been my entire life. There's been a drop in homicides since the peak in 2023, but last year was still 15% higher than in 2019: https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/01/02/homicid.... In 2023, the homicide rate in D.C. was 39 per 100k people. This is only a little better than the civilian death rate in Iraq when it peaked in 2014 during ISIS (that was around 50 per 100k).
This is not a "guns" issue, it's a policing issue. Idaho has among the most guns of any state in the union, and Boise is as safe as a western European city, with 1/30th the homicide rate of D.C. Even several large U.S. cities, like Austin, El Paso, and Virginia Beach, have homicide rates 1/10th or less of D.C.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b....
D.C. is a rich city surrounded by wealthy suburbs. There's no reason for it to be as unsafe as decaying post-industrial cities like Philadelphia or Baltimore.
Troops in military uniforms patrolled the subway with rifles.
Nobody raised an eye and nobody in this thread apparently even remembers.
National Guard has deployed to Washington DC dozens of times already - many times to combat crime and disturbances. (Technically hundreds of times if you count inaugurations).
By my reckoning next stop would be an “accidental fire” in the House of Representatives.
It’s hard to imagine three summers from now being anything other than a hellscape. I hope to God I’m wrong.
Trump is a symptom of the cancer of conservatism. He’s the inevitable result of conservative politics and positioning over the last 40+ years. The GOP wanted to make an environment where their guy could never be punished for watergate levels of blatant criminal offense and they fucking succeeded.
https://cha.house.gov/2024/9/transcripts-show-president-trum...
There were over 5000 auto thefts reported last year[1] in an area that has about 350k registered cars. Statistically speaking, more than one in a hundred cars were stolen in one year!
Similarly, there were roughly 26k cases of property crime reported for an overall rate of property crime victimization of 3-4% of the population.
If I lived in DC, my day-to-day life would be affected a whole lot more by this level of disorder than a political event that took place on one day in one building. Of course, you're free to value things differently, but it's an indictment of how much antisocial behavior some Americans are willing to tolerate that people are shocked by the statement that "crime in DC is bad".
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_intenti...
[1]: https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime
https://cha.house.gov/2024/9/transcripts-show-president-trum...
Trump just made himself owner of the crime rate in DC. Every crime that occurs there is now Trump's failure. That is not something that he's going to want.
Do you really think he will let out numbers that make him look bad
Is there anything to learn from that? Of course not. Aside from the liberty for security trade, should every town increase the police budget by 50x? Is that actually a solution for anyone?
And you are okay with this in the context of a pedophile rapist felon traitorous president who is bent on vengeance, a famously thin skin and a primate's view of the use of power?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeGpLg0b3DE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC1NGWM8gP8
For him at least I don’t think there’s anything deeper other than he found this way to get people to either adore him or hate him. In either case he’s the center of attention.
Once the toy he stops generating attention, he will get bored and he will find a new toy.
This is, fairly overtly, a step (not the first step, but another step) towards a nationwide militarized police state.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_6_United_States_Capito...
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/03/politics/us-capitol-riot-hear...
https://archive.is/ZfKzG