In a statement, the White House proclaimed that Trump had “taken bold executive action to liberate Washington, D.C., from the cesspool of crime and homelessness that it has become after decades of unilateral Democrat leadership.” Trump himself told reporters during a press briefing that Monday should be regarded as “Liberation Day,” a phrase he last used for the announcement of high tariff rates that sent stock markets tumbling this spring.
Early indications suggest that Trump’s latest brainwave is more performative than substantive. One social media user filmed Drug Enforcement Agency agents patrolling the National Mall in full Kevlar gear on Monday morning. The greatest public safety threat that they will likely encounter there are the high prices for the nearby ice cream trucks that cater to passing tourists.
The plan to take over the city’s police force began last week after Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old former DOGE staffer who now works for the Social Security Administration, was allegedly assaulted in a late-night attack near Dupont Circle. Police reports said that he was attacked by as many as 10 teenagers, with officers later apprehending two of them.
Pointing to overall crime statistics and long-term trends is a fool’s errand, however, since all it takes is a handful of incidents for the White House to claim a crackdown is needed. Trump posted a photo of Coristine’s bruised and bleeding face on his personal social media platform shortly after last week’s incident and promised action.
Trump’s threat to “federalize” D.C. is nonsensical on its face. The District of Columbia is a federal enclave under Congress’s control, not the president’s. In one sense, it has been federalized ever since George Washington, who—borrowing from his ample experience as a land speculator in the region—helped select the 10-square-mile district’s location during his presidency. Congress formally established the enclave in 1801 and experimented with a variety of different governance structures for the city’s residents over the years.
Though D.C. is Congress’s responsibility, Trump does have unique powers within the district that he does not enjoy elsewhere. When the president staged a major immigration enforcement operation in Los Angeles earlier this summer, for example, he was able to federalize the state National Guard and send in federal agents from around the country to carry out various raids and suppress protests. At the same time, he had no legal authority to conscript California’s civilian state and local law enforcement agencies to assist him.
The House and Senate can choose to extend a president’s control for longer by passing a joint resolution to authorize it. The Home Rule Act does not provide any further limits beyond that; its drafters apparently did not envision that an authoritarian president would hold office and misuse the emergency powers. If Congress does not act, it is unclear whether Trump could simply seize control of the D.C. police in 30-day increments for the remainder of his presidency.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has adopted a conciliatory stance with the Trump administration since its return in January, said that she “can’t say we were totally surprised” by Monday’s announcement. She also described it as “unsettling and unprecedented,” then tried to emphasize recent reductions in violent crime that showed Trump’s intervention was unnecessary.
In his comments on Monday, the president even suggested that he would allow the police officers now under his command to abuse citizens at will. “The police are standing and they’re told, ‘Don’t do anything under any circumstances,’” he said, perhaps referring to protesters of some kind. “And you can see they want to get at it. And they’re standing there, and people are spitting in their face, and they’re not allowed to do anything. But now they are allowed to do whatever the hell they want.” Well, at least for the next 30 days.
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