The Trump White House this week shared a striking video capturing the nighttime mission in Washington, D.C.—a direct effort to “Make D.C. Safe Again.” The footage, posted online with the caption “Nighttime Routine: Operation Make D.C. Safe Again Edition”, showed authorities sweeping the streets and arresting suspected criminals.
This isn’t just a publicity stunt. It follows a major decision announced Monday, when President Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. By doing so, he placed the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and activated the National Guard to restore order in a city that has seen crime spiral out of control. For decades, politicians in Washington have promised safer streets but delivered more bureaucracy, excuses, and crime statistics that get worse by the year.
At his press conference, Trump did not mince words. “I understand a lot of you tend to be on the liberal side, but … you don’t want to get mugged and raped and shot and killed,” he told reporters. His message was simple: every American, regardless of politics, deserves basic safety. “You want to be able to leave your apartment or your house where you live and feel safe and go into a store to buy a newspaper or buy something, and you don’t have that now,” he continued.
Trump pointed to sobering numbers: the murder rate in Washington is now “higher than that of Bogotá, Colombia; Mexico City; some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on earth.” He reminded Americans that “the number of car thefts has doubled over the past five years, and the number of carjackings has more than tripled. Murders in 2023 reached the highest rate probably ever. They say 25 years, but they don’t know what that means, because it just goes back 25 years.”
Then he laid it bare: “Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people, and we’re not going to let it happen anymore.”
The data supports his urgency. Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, speaking on Breitbart News Daily, explained that the D.C. homicide rate is “five to six times that of any other major city in the United States.” That staggering disparity underscores why federal intervention is not just political theater but a necessity. Sund reminded listeners that coordinated task forces have a proven track record of working. “We did this in the early ’90s, when I was with D.C. police, we were able to drive down homicide rates. When Chief Lanier was chief, think about 2010 to 2014, we had a homicide rate that was maybe right around 100, 170 a year. Now 2023, you got 274 homicides. So you had a significant increase,” he said.
And while some in the media trumpet a “drop” in crime from 2023 to 2024, Sund warned against exaggerating: “So when people talk about, ‘Oh, there’s a big drop,’ there’s a drop from 2023 to 2024, but it’s still significant — double what we had in around 2010.”
The historical record tells the same story: when police are allowed to do their jobs without political interference, crime falls. When politicians bow to activists, slash budgets, or tie the hands of law enforcement, communities pay the price. Washington, D.C., is now Exhibit A in what happens when leadership prioritizes progressive posturing over public safety.
Unsurprisingly, the left’s reaction has been loud, emotional, and predictable. Rather than addressing the brutal reality of skyrocketing carjackings, murders, and assaults, critics have resorted to insults. One high-profile example came from failed vice-presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz’s daughter, who ranted about Trump’s action, calling it “bitch baby, wussy, scaredy cat behavior.”
The contrast couldn’t be clearer: while progressives mock, dismiss, and sneer, Trump has chosen action. He is asserting federal authority to protect citizens in the very city that symbolizes American freedom. For conservatives, it raises the question: if the federal government cannot keep its own capital safe, how can it be trusted to secure the rest of the nation?
The debate over Washington’s safety isn’t just about crime statistics. It’s about whether government exists to protect citizens or to protect its own bureaucracy. Trump’s move challenges decades of hands-off policies that allowed crime to metastasize in the nation’s capital. To many, this feels less like a political maneuver and more like a common-sense reset—one grounded in the belief that every American has the right to walk their streets without fear.
This is not about partisan victory; it is about restoring order, upholding the rule of law, and ensuring that the capital of the United States reflects the strength, security, and values of the country it represents.
