(C) Common Dreams
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Trump Seizes D.C. Under False Pretenses [1]
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Date: 2025-08
All the people who live, work, and visit D.C. deserve safety and security. But the president micromanaging the local police force and failed methods to address crime will not get us there.
The truth is that crime in the District does not rise to the level of an emergency that requires the president’s attention. According to MPD, violent crime is down 26% this year after a 35% drop in 2024, and overall crime in D.C. is down 7%. Like many other moments of micromanaging D.C., threatening a D.C. “takeover” is not about safety. It’s yet another attempt to use one incident as an excuse for a broad overreach of power. This threat should concern everyone across the country because D.C. can be viewed as a testing ground and is the canary in the coal mine to see what could be implemented elsewhere.
History before D.C. Home Rule has shown that the federal government struggled to provide services and public safety in the District. And the commissioners and members of Congress constantly heard about their failures from District residents. By the time the D.C. Home Rule Act passed, federal commissioners and members of Congress were more than happy to give up the responsibility of micromanaging D.C. in addition to the things their voters elected them to accomplish.
If we want our communities to be safe, the federal government should:
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[1] Url:
https://www.acludc.org/publications/trump-seizes-d-c-under-false-pretenses/#:~:text=Congress%20would%20have%20to%20pass,have%20Democratic%20support%20to%20pass.
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