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Closely flanked by the defense secretary and the nation’s top law enforcement official, President Trump sought to project an image of raw power on Monday as he announced his plans to send National Guard troops to the nation’s capital and engineer a federal takeover of its police department.
He also sounded a little like he wanted a job other than his own: Mayor.
“We’re going to replace the medians that are falling down all over the road, we’re going to replace the potholes,” Trump said, just after urging the nation’s tourists not to be put off from their trips to see the White House or the Air and Space Museum by the apocalyptic stories of murders and carjackings that he was telling at that very moment, despite the fact that the city’s violent crime rate has fallen.
“Keep coming!” Trump said, briefly assuming another mantle, that of local tourism director. “By the time you get your trip set, it’s going to be safe again.”
While Trump has deployed the National Guard to cities before, including in Los Angeles earlier this year and in Washington in 2020, this is the first time that he has actually moved to take control of a local police force, and to make a city’s crime his problem.
“I actually think it’s easy,” Trump said today. “If you’re competent, it’s easy.”
Some actual mayors, however, would disagree.
What mayors say
Earlier today, I called Mayor Jane Castor of Tampa, a Democrat in a red state who spent decades working as a police officer and then as her city’s police chief before being elected mayor in 2019. I wanted to know what she had to say about reducing crime.
