President Donald Trump has deployed FBI brokers to purportedly combat lethal crime in Washington, D.C. however crime is at a 30-year low within the metropolis. The FBI will likely be reassigning 120 brokers to go on night time patrols in Washington—a metropolis of 68 sq. miles and simply over 700,000 residents. These brokers will likely be pulled from their different duties to serve on Trump’s pet mission.
Trump’s justification for the transfer is that crime within the metropolis is supposedly uncontrolled. In a MondayTruth Social put up he wrote, “Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today! Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN! The days of ruthlessly killing, or hurting, innocent people, are OVER!”
He additionally demanded that homeless individuals depart D.C.
Crime is down in D.C. Because the FBI itself defined in a January assertion, crime ranges within the metropolis are at 30-year lows—a drop that occurred beneath former President Joe Biden.
“Total violent crime for 2024 in the District of Columbia is down 35% from 2023 and is the lowest it has been in over 30 years, according to data collected by the Metropolitan Police Department,” the company stated on the time.
In distinction to Trump’s rhetoric, since Trump despatched in brokers they’re coping with much more mundane affairs. NPR reported that on Sunday night time, no less than two dozen brokers have been on the scene responding to a minor visitors accident between a automobile and a moped. That’s hardly one thing that wants greater than a response from native police—D.C. has a police drive of greater than 3,000 officers.
Washington Publish author Drew Harwell famous the absurdity of Trump’s actions, posting a video during which armed federal brokers walked by means of a tranquil D.C. as joggers ran previous them.
Along with the FBI belongings, Trump stated on Monday that he had declared an emergency in D.C. and can be sending in Nationwide Guard troops to make the capital into one of many “safest, cleanest and most beautiful cities anywhere in the world.” Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth stated the Nationwide Guard would quickly be patrolling the streets—a growth that right-wing conspiracy theorists have accused Democrats of plotting to hold out for many years.
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser questioned the effectiveness of such a transfer. “I just think that’s not the most efficient use of our Guard,” she stated Sunday on MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” acknowledging it’s “the president’s name about methods to deploy the Guard.”
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser
The economic system is faltering, rocked by Trump’s determination to impose huge tariffs on international imports. Current unemployment reviews present that Trump’s tariffs are inflicting a rise in joblessness, and he has responded by pushing nonsensical conspiracy theories in regards to the authorities information being manipulated.
Concurrently, his administration has been criticized by each the proper and left for refusing to launch the federal government’s info on Trump buddy and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein and his intercourse trafficking community.
Underneath Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi the FBI is patrolling the streets of Washington as a substitute of revealing Epstein’s purported consumer checklist and different affiliated paperwork. Trump has sued The Wall Avenue Journal for reporting that his title purportedly got here up in an FBI sweep of Epstein-related recordsdata. Trump would reasonably the main target be on his supposed robust strategy to crime than the economic system or pedophile-related scandals.
However his presidency has proven a passion for criminals. He pardoned a whole lot of individuals concerned within the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and a few of them have already returned to a lifetime of crime. Concurrently, his determination to make use of ICE to harass and kidnap migrants has given a inexperienced mild to criminals across the nation to impersonate ICE as a pretext to committing crimes.
And naturally, Trump himself is a convicted felon on 34 counts, that means that probably the most well-known criminals in Washington is the one purportedly declaring struggle on crime.
