This is the day of liberation in DC. We will retake our capital.
A serious Donald Trump looked into the TV cameras and announced that he is putting Washington DC's police under federal control. And to get to grips with "violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals", he is sending around 800 national guards there.
Downward trend
The reactions did not wait. The Democratic Rhode Island senator and defense committee member Jack Reed dismisses the action as "misuse of the national guard" and emphasizes that the military should not act as daily police, writes The New York Times. Civil rights activists, academics, and other critics are furious about the decision, which they consider unjustified and has political grounds and connection to the democratic governance in Washington DC, reports USA Today.
"President Trump is presenting a fabricated story about a city whose population is mainly black", says Todd A Cox, deputy chief of the civil rights organization Legal Defence Fund, in a statement.
"The truth is that crime in DC is at historically low levels."
Statistics compiled by the politically independent think tank Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) show that he is at least partially right. Serious crimes such as murder, assault, and armed attacks have decreased by between 30 and 50 percent from the mid-2023 to now. Crime is certainly higher than the average in US cities, but the trend is clearly downward, writes CCJ.
More cities?
It is against this background that Donald Trump's emergency is being questioned.
When we think of emergencies, they usually involve an increase in crime, notes the capital's mayor Muriel Bowser.
Donald Trump says that similar measures may be relevant for cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, and New York, which are also governed by Democrats.
Triggering an emergency is a proven method for the president. He acted in the same way when he sent thousands of soldiers to the US southern border in the spring to stop illegal migration, as well as in June when he sent the national guard to Los Angeles to suppress protests. And an economic emergency is the basis for the punitive tariffs the White House has imposed on large parts of the world.
Number of murders per 100,000 inhabitants at mid-year:
2021: 14 2023: 17.4 2025: 10.5
Number of cases of assault per 100,000 inhabitants at mid-year:
2021: 112.5 2023: 103.2 2025: 58.2
Number of armed attacks (with firearms) per 100,000 inhabitants at mid-year:
2021: 62 2023: 69.5 2025: 34.2
Source: The politically independent think tank Council on Criminal Justice
