Yes, D.C. Is Just As Bad As Trump Says It Is
Abigail Nichols
In just one summer of living in D.C., I’ve witnessed a couple fight over crack cocaine on the bus while the man threatened to beat his girlfriend and homeless regulars sleeping on Pennsylvania Avenue around the corner from the Capitol building, while rats roam right next to them. I’ve seen a dozen people show signs of schizophrenia as they yell at the empty bus seat or open space next to them.
I’ve witnessed homeless people encamp right outside of Union Station, a man try to break into my car while I was getting ice cream in the Eastern Market, single moms full of anger that they direct at their kids while on the Metro and buses, and urine perfume every Metro station I’ve been in.
You don’t have to look far to see the brokenness, violence, and filth that’s in D.C. In fact, I took a quick drive around the city and captured the photos below showing readers that reality. But that hasn’t stopped legacy media journalists from denying that D.C. has a problem — likely from their ritzy neighborhood bubbles and million-dollar mansions.
Earlier this week, for example, journalist Ron Kampeas boasted that he’s “never been carjacked,” and therefore it must not be an issue for anyone else in the city (despite the fact that he does not live in D.C.). The New York Times’ Peter Baker even called it a “nonexistent crime crisis.”
But anyone living in D.C. who has eyes and ears to see the homelessness, crime, filth, and boarded-up windows knows that D.C. needs help — and the president has finally taken concrete moves to do so.
Trump declared a “public safety emergency in the District of Columbia” during Monday’s announcement of an initiative to rein in homelessness and crime, starting with deploying National Guard troops, invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, and leaning into his Article II constitutional power.
“The District of Columbia has lost control of public order and safety in the city, as evidenced by the two embassy staffers who were murdered in May, the Congressional intern who was fatally shot a short distance from the White House in June, and the Administration staffer who was mercilessly beaten by a violent mob days ago,” said Trump’s presidential memo on Monday.