Democratic mayors have failed to lead.
Consider: San Francisco has a visible and corrosive homeless crisis; Chicago’s homicide numbers increase yearly; New York’s felony assaults have skyrocketed. As a result of decay and disorder, urban populations in all three cities have decreased significantly, especially in the years since the Covid-19 pandemic.
While their cities crumbled, Democratic mayors and municipal officials insisted they were pioneering a more compassionate form of government, one that addressed “systemic racism,” “prosecutorial overreach,” “exploitative labor practices” — the so-called root causes of crime and inequality.
Yet the quality of life deteriorated so much over the last decade that even the New York Times acknowledged that progressive city management is a failure.
The Times points to the end of Barack Obama’s second term as the turning point, when “some Democrats decided that [Obama] had been too cautious and adopted a bolder liberalism,” which advocated a soft-on-crime approach to law enforcement. Predictably, by choosing not to enforce the law, crime flourished. Many New Yorkers now worry their city is “heading back to the bad old days of the 1970s and ‘80s.”
On August 11, Trump asserted authority over one of the crime-ridden cities. Washington, D.C. has the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country among major cities. In fact, Washington’s murder statistics were “almost as high as New York’s at its most dangerous” according to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. The rate of motor vehicle theft was more than three times the national average, and the city’s rate of property crime came in at the top of the rankings.
“These conditions are disgraceful anywhere,” said President Trump. “Particularly in the capital of our nation and the seat of the federal government.”
Federal intervention, Trump said, was necessary to “protect the safety and security of United States citizens who live in and visit our nation’s capital.” He deployed more than 2,000 National Guard troops to patrol the city and protect federal property. He assigned more than 100 federal agents from the FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, and ICE to augment the Metropolitan Police Force in combating violent crime and carjackings. Earlier this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi reported that law officers arrested more than 1,000 people since the crackdown began.
“Citizens, tourists, and Federal workers deserve peace and security,” Trump said. “Not fear and violence.”
The District of Columbia belongs to all Americans, and Trump’s takeover is an effort at restoration — a commitment to honor our national inheritance by protecting our most cherished public property. The people and events that shaped our national character are represented in the city’s gardens, galleries, parks, and architecture. Our great presidents are monumentalized on the National Mall. City streets and avenues bear the names of our states. Washington, D.C. is more than just another big city — it is a historical preserve, a city of monuments that is itself a monument to our history, heritage, and way of life.
As a symbol of America, D.C. is visited by people from around the world. They come to the United States with the expectation that its capital reflects the condition of the nation at large. In fact, they would be justified in assuming that the seat of our federal government would be more beautiful and orderly than almost anywhere else in the country. However, in the years since the Covid-19 pandemic, visitors have witnessed crime, filth, and urban decay. How many leave the United States believing the stories of American greatness are lies?
Progressive mayors exploited their cities to advance a cynical and politicized theory of justice. They sermonized about “root causes,” but neglected the common good. Their blasé attitudes toward public safety, and failure to fulfill their fiduciary duty to their constituents have resulted in record disapproval ratings.
President Trump stands ready to deliver what people need: public safety; good stewardship of our urban infrastructure; and enforcement of the law.
“We’re going to take back our capital,” Trump said. “And then we’ll look at other cities.”
By intervening first in Washington, D.C., Trump has taken the first step in a domestic campaign to restore America's greatness. San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore, and New York could be next.
John J. Waters is a lawyer. He served as a deputy assistant secretary of Homeland Security from 2020-21. Follow him at @JohnJWaters1 on X. Adam Ellwanger is a professor at University of Houston – Downtown, where he teaches rhetoric and writing. Follow him at @1HereticalTruth on X.
