The President’s Police State
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
For years, prominent voices on the right argued that Democrats were enacting a police state. They labeled everything— a report on homegrown extremism , IRS investigations into nonprofits —a sign of impending authoritarianism. Measures taken by state governments to combat the spread of COVID? Tyranny. An FBI search of Mar-a-Lago? The weaponization of law enforcement.
Now that a president is actually sending federal troops and officers out into the streets of the nation’s cities, however, the right is in lockstep behind him. This morning, Donald Trump announced that he was declaring a crime emergency, temporarily seizing control of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department and deploying the D.C. National Guard to the nation’s capital.
“This is liberation day in D.C.,” Trump said . Nothing says liberation like deploying hundreds of uniformed soldiers against the wishes of the local elected government. District residents have made clear that they would prefer greater autonomy, including congressional representation , and they have three times voted overwhelmingly against Trump. His response is not just to flex power but to treat the District of Columbia as the president’s personal fiefdom.
Trump’s move is based on out-of-date statistics. It places two officials without municipal policing experience in positions of power over federalization and the MPD, and seems unlikely to significantly affect crime rates. What the White House hopes it might achieve, Politico reports, is “a quick, visually friendly PR win.” Trump needs that after more than a month of trying and failing to change the subject from his onetime friend Jeffrey Epstein .
But what this PR stunt could also do is create precedent for Trump to send armed forces out into American streets whenever he declares a spurious state of emergency. Some of Trump’s supporters don’t seem to mind that fact: “Trump has the opportunity to do a Bukele-style crackdown on DC crime,” Christopher Rufo , the influential conservative personality, posted on X, referring to Nayib Bukele, the Trump ally who is president of El Salvador. “Question is whether he has the will, and whether the public the stomach. Big test: Can he reduce crime faster than the Left advances a counternarrative about ‘authoritarianism’? If yes, he wins. Speed matters.”
Rufo seems to view everything in terms of a political battle to be won via narratives; the term authoritarianism appears to mean nothing to him, and maybe it never meant anything to others on the right who assailed Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Democratic governors. It does have a real meaning, though, and Bukele is its poster boy. Despite the constitution having banned it, he ran for a second term in office ; his party then changed the constitution to allow “indefinite” reelection . Lawmakers in his party also brazenly removed supreme-court justices, and his government has forced journalists into exile and locked up tens of thousands of people without due process. This is apparently the America that Chris Rufo wants.
To justify the crackdown, Trump has cited an alleged carjacking attempt that police records say injured the former DOGE employee Edward “Big Balls” Coristine. But MPD has already arrested two Maryland 15-year-olds for unarmed carjacking. That’s good news. Carjacking is a serious crime and should be punished. But Trump has used the incident to claim that violent crime is skyrocketing in Washington. This is, put simply, nonsense. During a press conference today, Trump cited murder statistics from 2023, and said that carjackings had “more than tripled” over the past five years. He didn’t use more recent numbers because they show that these crimes are down significantly in Washington. Murder dropped 32 percent from 2023 to 2024, robberies 39 percent, and armed carjackings 53 percent. This is in line with a broad national reduction in crime . MPD’s preliminary data indicate that violent crime is down another 26 percent so far this year compared with the same timeframe in 2024, though as the crime-statistics analyst Jeff Asher writes , this drop is probably overstated.
Trump’s descriptions of Washington as a lawless hellscape bear little resemblance to what most residents experience. Not only is D.C. not "one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World,” as Trump claims , but his prescription seems unlikely to help. He said he is appointing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, to help lead the federalization effort and MPD, but neither has any experience with municipal policing. They have not said what they will do differently. If the administration deploys its forces to high-profile areas such as the National Mall, they won’t have much impact on violent crime, because that’s not where it happens; if they go to less central areas with higher crime rates, they won’t get the PR boost they seek, because tourists and news cameras aren’t there.
Throughout his two presidencies, Trump has treated the military as a prop for making statements about which issues he cares about—and which he doesn’t. He deployed the D.C. National Guard during protests after the murder of George Floyd in summer 2020. Earlier this summer, he federalized the California National Guard and sent Marines to Los Angeles to assist with immigration enforcement, but they were sent home when it became clear that they had nothing to do there. Yet according to testimony before the January 6 panel, Trump did not deploy the D.C. National Guard when an armed mob was sacking the U.S. Capitol in 2021 to try to help Trump hold on to power.
Good policing is important because citizens deserve the right to live in safety. Recent drops in crime in Washington are good news because the district’s residents should be able to feel safe. But Trump’s militarization of the city, his seizure of local police, and his lies about crime in Washington do the opposite: They are a way to make people feel unsafe, and either quiet residents’ dissent or make them support new presidential power grabs. Many of Trump’s defenders are angry when he’s called an authoritarian, but not when he acts as one.
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Lying to the public this much so that armed federal forces can be deployed domestically should be grounds for impeachment.
... a few steps beyond that, afaic.
It should....but....
I've known evil people in my days, but Trump and his followers transcend all evil I thought that I had experienced. Trump and his MAGA fascists are ruining American democracy. MAGA is just another form of tea party fascist extremism espoused by sub 100 IQ folk who were incapable of graduating high school.
Stupid, ignorant, uneducated, low IQ Trump owned fascists should not be allowed to destroy America like Trump has destroyed every business he's ever run into the ground.
Time to break one of my rules and make a prediction ... within 10 years 70% of Trump voters will deny ever having done so. The unravelling of history is a cruel mistress.
IMO they will mostly deny being a party to the damaging of America. If they were so lacking in ability to think critically to have voted for him in the first place, they will probably not have the cognitive ability to regret it later.
Yeah, that happened with Nixon. He won 49 states in 1972, but after he resigned, you couldn’t get anyone to admit they had voted for him. I’d be ok with that if we had learned something from it, but we obviously have not.
The only president I regret voting for was Bush the senior. At the time, didn't know he was culpable in JFKs assassination.
lol ….. put that in your wish jar and hope for the best.
... unless of course Trump is still President...
Trump will never change for the better and will only get worse as time goes on. He is mentally ill.
I'm thinking Taylor Swift for President. She's proved that she can run a country. Trav would make a great first man. Who do y'all think should be VP?
Next thing you know he's going to start arresting people and fining them $29,000 for walking in the woods. Then we'll know we are truly living in an authoritarian hell.
does this have some cryptic meaning ?
Sounds like the comment was pulled out of somewhere unholy
Just seems like only the most authoritarian police states would fine someone $29,000 for walking in a forest, right? So if that happens be worried. Don’t you agree?
On the other hand, trying to lower a murder rate to get below kabul just seems like common sense.
Is this an admission that we are somewhat authoritarian under Trump ? Cause we be headed that way for sure.
Some people love to troll with whataboutisms that go unexplained, with zero context, or any attempt to justify the attempt at analogy.
Are you moving to Kabul?
Or sitting on a beach, alone, without a mask, in a blue city, during COVID.
you know what...never mind. I already have 2 tickets
Is Nova Scotia going too far by banning people from woods during dry weather? Some think so
might explain the comment that was made .
i do love reading weird and WTF news stories .
thank U for possible clarification
Probably going too far but I understand. People get careless and start fires when they shouldn't
Yep, they ticketed a guy $29,000 just for walking in public woods.
Peak insanity.
I cant really say , all i can do is take it from my own experience and what i have seen where i am . and I agree . sometimes people do stupid things without knowing .
A good example is people towing campers and toy haulers into the woods for recreation , i cant count how many times those safety chains have been left dangling low enough to scrape and were sparking with no one the wiser , and as they say , all it takes is one spark in the wrong place and things can go sideways .
It was a stunt by a member of the People's Party of Canada looking for any national recognition that could be scraped from the bottom of a bait barrel. Seeing as the PPC managed all of 0.07% in the 2025 federal election, my heart bleeds.
I forgot to mention the person in the article i posted , got his fine through an act of protest , you beat me to it .
It was a stunt by a member of the People's Party of Canada
So what? So was Rosa Parks. Drawing attention to stupid law is the whole point.
If you want to complain about "fascism" and then justify issuing possibly life altering fines for literally walking in public woods, be my guest. Watch out for the cognitive dissonance though.
PPC managed all of 0.07% in the 2025 federal election, my heart bleeds.
Putting aside other people have been ticketed for the same "crime" of walking in public woods, that's some fascinating reasoning. So because his group is unpopular, who cares if he's punished unjustly ? hmm. Guess who else talks like that?
First, no one here is advocating for woods bans. In this obvious straw man you present, this is Canada where they have a dry season and restrict access to some provincial crown land.
There is nothing there that screams "fascism!" except in the mind of those so fucking desperate to distract from their own party being chest deep in their support for a populist authoritarian who is sending federal troops to the streets of an American city.
Didn't happen. Just more far right lies.
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Sure doesn't seem like something a 'small government' Republican would do. Trump plainly tells everyone that big government is the answer. Trump is deploying the national guard to disasters just as any Democrat would.
Democrats told Republicans that the party had to change or face extinction. Well, Democrats got what they wanted -- the party has certainly changed. We now have a big government Republican in the White House. Now Democrats want us to believe they are a small government party?
Wow nermy. You just ruined any credibility you ever had. You now blame others for your own sins.✌
I suppose you know what that means, so good on ya.
Perhaps...
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Orange man bad …… for crooks [deleted][✘]
Orange man IS a 34 times convicted felon.
Orange man IS sending federal troops to the streets of an American city to enforce civil laws.
Orange man admitted to sexually assaulting women. "I don't even wait." "You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything".
Orange man said of a convicted pedophile “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Orange man lied about Covid. He said privately, "This is deadly stuff, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” while at the exact same time publicly said "Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low." "We — we’re ready to adapt and we’re ready to do whatever we have to as the disease spreads, if it spreads. "
Orange man found liable by a jury for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll awarding her $5M.
Orange man's charity sued, shut down and fined $2M for illegally misusing charitable funds.
Orange man paid nearly half a million to at least two porn stars to keep them quiet about their sexual affairs with him during his campaign.
I'm beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, Trump being considered "bad" might have something to do with his actions and not just his spray tan.
since trump called in the NG to stop crime in DC, I fully expected them to assault the white house the next day ...
Pelosi isn't in charge of them so that won't be happening.
Since Trump is the biggest criminal in DC. Who'd a thunk that gangbanging drug dealers would be looked at as pristine compared to a president?
Trump is evil. Has always been evil. Will always be evil.
That is how his evil father raised him
Does not some actual basis in fact need to exist between the declared reason for this action and reality?
not in magaland ...
The current chief of police (former chief equity officer) in Washington DC is unfamiliar with the concept of chain of command. Help is needed.
Reminds me of a time when another President called up the 82nd and 101st Airborne to quell the violence in Detroit after the Governor had already called in the Michigan Nat. Guard. APC’s patrolling our city streets.
Good times ….
Lol
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