Washington’s governance has always been an experience in coexistence.
this 61 square miles The land plot is the capital of the nation, the home of the White House and Congress, federal agencies, and many archaeological monuments. It is also a major American Metropolis in itself, with a population greater than the Wyoming and Vermont states. The constitution gives the legislative power of Congress on the governance of the boycott. But since the 1970s, the city has elected its mayor and the city council, and over the years, the residents have prompted more local control and representation. In 2021, a draft law granting the state of the US House of Representatives passed.
Four years later, the issue of self -determination to Washington has moved sharply in the opposite direction.
Why did we write this
President Donald Trump’s acquisition of the Capital Police Administration and the National Guard deployed a new chapter in the boycott relationship with the federal government. Critics warn that the president may try similar measures in other democracy -controlled cities. But Washington holds a unique position.
President Donald Trump’s announcement on Monday that he temporarily puts the Capital Police Department under federal control and the deployment of the National Guard to the country’s capital to combat crime, has opened a new chapter in the boycott relationship with the federal government. This step comes after Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened to seize the Federalism of the nation’s capital during On the campaign path And again numerous Times this year.
“Our capital has exceeded the violent gangs, blood -thirsty criminals, the mob’s mobs from wild youth, narcoticus, and people who have no shelter, and we will not let that happen anymore,” said Mr. Trump in the White House briefing room, which is surrounded by members of his administration. “This is the day of liberation in the capital, and we will return our capital.”
Violent crime increased in Washington during the epidemic. But it is now in The lowest level in 30 yearsAccording to the Metropolitan Police Department, 26 % decrease From this time last year. These statistics, as well as the deployment of the National Guard forces in June to Los Angeles, amid modest immigration protests, led the Democrats to accuse the president of setting the basis for the independence of the federal cities controlled by democracy. It seems that Mr. Trump himself suggested at his press conference on Monday, as he described his actions in Washington as a “model” of other cities such as Chicago, New York, Limour, Los Angeles and Oakland, California.
“The seizure of Trump’s tyranny authoritarian authority is part of a growing national crisis,” Democratic Senator Chris van Holin from Maryland Books on x. “He plays a dictator in our nation’s capital, as a dress of dress, as it pushes democracy to the brink of the abyss.”
However, the boycott of Colombia is also a unique place, as it sparkles the laws that give different bodies overlap in various issues. The constitution clearly stipulates that the country’s government’s headquarters must be under the federal judicial jurisdiction. But the question of those who deal with the daily affairs of the city-from supervising schools to collect garbage to crime and displacement-are not simple.
How the city rules, and from what has been transformed through different ages, which reflects a continuous boost between the city’s officials and the Political Party in power.
“The founders have seen this a struggle, as a problem that must be solved,” says George Derek Mossgrouv, a history professor at Maryland University in Timur, who composed a book on the history of the city. “The problem is that they have never made it.”
The National Guard forces were deployed
Mr. Trump said on Monday that 800 National Guard forces in the capital will be surprised by the country’s capital. US Public Prosecutor Bam Bondi will supervise the Metropolitan police administration, as the director of the Anti -Narcotics Agency, Terry Cole, interferes as a temporary commissioner for the administration.
All of this is allowed according to the current structure of the city’s governance. Even when Mr. Trump’s publication of the National Guard in Los Angeles had been competed in the California courtroom on Monday morning, the president is unlikely to face the same legal decline here. For one reason, the National Guard is located in the capital under the authority of the president. And under 1973 The Law of the Main Al -QaedaThe president has the authority to take over the capital for 30 days. (After that, Congress will have to issue legislation that gives an extension-which is unlikely, given the lack of Republicans to the Senate-resistant margin of tiles.)
This section of the Law of the Home Base, which was intended as an emergency procedure in the case of extensive riots, was not invoked in the history of the law of 52 years.
“It is difficult to find a historical analogy of what Trump does, because the whole hypothesis … is completely wrong,” says Marie Dodziak, an expert in legal history at the Law Faculty of Emory University. “He says that the National Guard forces are needed due to the high crime rate in Washington, DC, and the data related to the crime rate in Washington, DC, is the opposite.”
But at a time when the crime decreased in the region, these improvements came in the wake of a few dangerous years – and what many residents consider a weak response from the city government.
In June 2020, a few weeks after George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, the Capital City Council unanimously agreed to the emergency legislation that limits the use of the capital police. The officers’ demand for launching the body camera shots included more quickly, which limits the role of the Police Union in disciplinary procedures, and the officers prohibiting the use of tear gas or pepper spray to disperse the crowd. By 2023, Washington was one of the bloodiest cities in the country, with a violent crime increased by 39 %, although it is still much lower than the city Kill rates in the early 1990s.
When the City Council tried to rewrite the DC Criminal Law in 2023, including relaxation in the maximum penalties for many violent crimes, the bill was banned by Congress. Thirty -three Democrats in the Senate joined the Republicans to close it.
The following year, the council reflected many of the rulings that it went through in the wake of the death of Mr. Floyd. ACT ACT Policies for 2024 for neck restrictions (including technology used by the officer responsible for the death of Mr. Floyd), and allowed the officers to review camera footage before writing police reports, and contact some crimes such as calendar.
While the killing rate in Washington decreased in 2024, Remain up About other major cities such as Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Atlanta. A recent case from the Capital Police Commander he put on vacation for Crime data is allegedly forging Reinforce Trump administration claim The city is more dangerous than the official personalities indicate.
Recently last May, an opinion poll in the Washington Post found that the residents of the capital ranked “crime, violence and rifles” As the largest problem facing the cityAbove the economy, Mr. Trump, or housing.
Mr. Trump’s announcement came after a The last attack A young employee of the government competence employee, Edward Corestine, has a stealing attempt.
The movements also seem to reflect the president’s frustration with the homeless camps. He published several pictures of tents and garbage on social media, and it seems that the photos are taken from his convoy While he was leading to his golf club In Virginia during the weekend. Mr. Trump told media members that he was “embarrassing” how Washington became “dirty and disgusting.”
It was violence, but not on January 6
Many Democrats and local residents have pointed to the paradox of Mr. Trump’s focus on the violence of the capital, given that the attack on the Capitol in the United States by the president’s supporters on January 6, 2021 is still one of the city’s most violent days in modern history. On his first day in his post, Mr. Trump pardoned about 1500 accused who participated in the attack that day, including people They were convicted of violently assaulting police officers As well as the organizers I condemn the bad conspiracy.
Those who were frustrated by the president’s offer to the province also suggested that if the city’s condition is a source But it stopped in the House of Representatives – It should be a priority. City officials say that these funds are especially required, while the largest employer in Washington issued the federal government, the demobilization of the collective workers.
Mr. Trump is likely to see this moment as a political opportunity. Its legal authority will continue for the city police department for only 30 days, but it tends to the crime policy – which is still Mr. Trump better Voting The case – it can be particularly useful after self -determination in July and continuous criticism to address the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Mr. Trump also indicated several times during his press conference, the White House surrounding room was standing only.
But with the ownership of a problem comes the risks. Mr. Trump will now be judged by his ability to clean the city “at a real speed”, as he put it, which may be more difficult than his administration predicted, given the numbering in the city from the judicial states and laws that change between traffic circuits and high -end games.
After the president established a safe and beautiful DC work team An executive order in March,, Which included a “increase” law enforcement in public areas, the United States Police blessed many arrests to use marijuana in places such as Dubont Serkel and Wogan Surkel. Perfection of marijuana is legal within the city, but it is prohibited in Almost a third From the city owned by federal owned lands, such as its rotating gardens.
“I think they are using [crime] “As an opportunity to try to put more federal control in the executive authority on the ground here in the capital,” says Alex Hawkins, a resident of the capital, while waiting for the metro in Dubnt Surkel.