Aug 12, 2025
The takeover of the nation’s capital could be a crucial milestone in the rise of an authoritarian regime and the decline of the American dream.
President Donald Trump announced on August 12 that he is placing the Washington, D.C., metropolitan police force under federal control and sending hundreds of National Guard troops into the city’s streets.
The measure is designed to please his base. And it might even seem justified—if the main premises were true.
But it’s false. Crime in D.C. is no worse than in Bogotá, Mexico City, or Lima, as the White House’s announcement claims. In fact, it’s the lowest it’s been in the last 30 years, according to data from the Department of Justice and the FBI. Compared to the alarming numbers from 2023, homicides fell by 32%, robberies by 39%, and armed robberies by 27%. But in a document released by the White House Office explaining the measure, the 2023 numbers are used, not the most recent ones.
Trump’s announcement makes no mention of this.
It is true, the persistent youth crime rate is a serious problem for capital authorities. But it is precisely this area of juvenile crime— that requires caution when using force, where it is necessary to combat the causes of the proliferation of crime among young people, which is, again, something the executive branch ignores.
Trump is once again criminalizing innocent people. It’s similar to his insistence that undocumented immigrants kidnapped from the streets, imprisoned, disappeared, and deported are criminals, when only a small percentage are. Same logic.
This is yet another bluff in the president’s long list of attacks, targeting Democratic-led centers, such as Los Angeles and Washington, and cities with significant African American or Latino populations. This is the second time Trump has used military forces to attack Democratic-majority cities.
Moreover, the takeover of Washington, D.C., its “federalization,” could be illegal; only Congress can place the city under federal control, repealing the Home Rule Act of 1973, which allows city residents to elect their mayor and city council members. Section 740 of this law allows the president to seize control of the Metropolitan Police in extraordinary cases, but only for 30 days.
This is just the beginning. The administration has been very explicit in its message: “We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then, of course, Baltimore and Oakland… (but) we’re not going to let it happen. We’re not going to lose our cities because of this. This will go further. We’re starting very strongly with D.C.”
The lack of respect for the law, democratic traditions, and public opinion implied in the announcement is even more evident considering that neither DC Mayor Muriel Bowser nor the metropolitan police chiefs were notified. They found out along with the rest of the country.
The President is constructing an entire narrative based on false premises, going so far as to call the takeover of the capital a “Day of Liberation.” What freedom is he talking about? The freedom to send troops into the nation’s capital, against the will of its authorities and its residents, who voted overwhelmingly against Trump three times?
For decades, when Democrats were in power, Republicans accused them at every turn of planning a violent takeover, of preparing a dictatorship, of attacking liberties. The COVID-19 vaccination was a prelude to tyranny, they claimed. The FBI investigations into the attempted coup d’état of January 6, 2021, were the equivalent of a police state. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) lawsuits against billionaires for allegedly defrauding the treasury were attacks on liberties. Not to mention when the police searched for—and found—secret documents that Trump was hiding in his Florida mansion, for which they were accused of being “fascist communists” or vice versa…
Not a word from the Republicans now, as Trump’s police state is rapidly being established.
Trump is now imposing a new character on the American democratic experience, and he’s doing so much faster than the resistance or opposition can react to change the narrative.
Regarding the impact the troop deployment could have on crime in the capital, it’s safe to assume it will be minimal or less. Patrols will likely be deployed around federal buildings—the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court—in the city center, not in neighborhoods where crime is prevalent and media coverage is scarce.
Like so many other ill-fated initiatives, the takeover of the nation’s capital may have initially been motivated by a desire to grab headlines and distract the public from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. But it has taken on a life of its own. If it extends beyond 30 days, if it expands to other cities, if it is used as a pretext to control the upcoming elections, it will be a crucial milestone in the rise of an authoritarian regime and the decline of the American dream.
Gabriel Lerner is the founder and co-editor of HispanicLA. He was editor-in-chief of La Opinión newspaper in Los Angeles until January 2021 and is its current Editor Emeritus.
This story was first published in Spanish by Hispanic LA and is reprinted here with permission from the author. Feature image by Ted Eytan. Published via CC License 4.0
