The National Guard has entered America’s capital after Donald Trump vowed to crack down on Washington, DC, which he says has been taken over by ‘violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals’.
‘We are going to take our capital back’, Trump said in a press conference this afternoon, as federal forces entered the streets.
His remarks come even as violent crime rates in the nation’s capital have fallen since hitting a peak in 2023.
Speaking directly to reporters, Trump claimed they were ‘victims of it’ too, adding: ‘You don’t want to get mugged and raped and shot and killed.’
He also claimed Washington was one of the ‘worst places on Earth’ and had been taken over by ‘drugged out maniacs and homeless people’.
Sending the National Guard into DC means that the Washington DC Police Department would be under ‘direct federal control’, Trump said.
Trump also went on and rambled about his past in real estate, saying he loves to ‘fix things up’.
The federalisation of the DC police also appears to be targeting the homeless population.
Trump added, ‘We’re getting rid of the slums too. I know it’s not politically correct. No, we’re getting rid of the slums where they live.’
He also rambled about how ‘caravans of youth’ fight against law enforcement and ‘love to spit in the face of the police’.
‘You tell them: you spit and we hit. And they can hit real hard.’
FBI Director Kash Patel added: ‘Simplicity in law enforcement is what’s coming to Washington, DC. When you have the DOJ and Trump driving behind this mission, we’re going to clean up Washington, DC, the right and lawful way.’
Trump’s declaration of a public safety emergency in DC means that Attorney General Pam Bondi is taking control of the police department.
Most of the DC National Guard are expected to be deployed – roughly 800 soldiers.
For Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects a next step in his law enforcement agenda after his aggressive push to stop illegal border crossings.
But he’s also warned other cities that they should be watching DC and learning from it.
‘They’re watching us today, and if they don’t learn their lesson or study this properly, then I’m going to look at New York in a while,’ Trump said.
‘If we need to, we’ll do the same thing in Chicago.’
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