One of the most notable differences between President Donald Trump and his Republican predecessors is his ability to trick the Democrats into defending the indefensible. He exploits their automatic opposition to every action he takes and traps them on the wrong side of 80-20 issues.
On Monday, Trump added another notch in his belt on this front by issuing an executive order declaring a crime emergency in the nation’s capital and taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department pursuant to Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.
The order explicitly stipulates that the Mayor of the District of Columbia “shall provide the services of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes for the maximum period permitted under section 740.” Trump also issued a memorandum directing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth “to mobilize the District of Columbia National Guard and order members to active service, in such numbers as he deems necessary, to address the epidemic of crime in our Nation’s capital.” The initial deployment will involve 800 troops.
Inevitably, every Democrat within reach of a microphone, camera, or keyboard denounced the President for this action. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), best known for leading the second unsuccessful impeachment trial of Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” issued a semi-coherent statement which attempts to relitigate that tawdry circus and includes an extended diatribe about the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. At length, he finally gets to the point, claiming that crime in D.C. is at a 30-year low and that Trump is an autocrat:
“In a textbook authoritarian maneuver, the President now invokes emergency powers to militarize the seat of government and override the authority and decisions of D.C.’s elected officials… I will be introducing a Resolution in the House, pursuant to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, to reverse this plainly ridiculous state of local emergency and restore full home rule powers to the Mayor, Council and people of the District of Columbia.”
The “30-year low” claim is clearly a talking point cooked up by the DNC. Hillary Clinton took to X and posted the same whopper: “As you listen to an unhinged Trump try to justify deploying the National Guard in DC, here’s reality: Violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low.” Here’s Mayor Muriel Bowser repeating the same tale.
David Angelo responds to Clinton by providing the following chart that shows the D.C. murder stats for the past 20 years. Fourteen years had lower murder rates than the most recent full year, 2024.
The knee-jerk response to this chart from any Democrat or corporate media talking head would go something like, “Homicides are a subset of violent crime, which includes various other forms of violence.” The problem with this argument is that there has been considerable controversy surrounding the way “violent crime” has been counted by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. As far back as May, the head of the D.C. Police Union accused police leadership of manipulating crime statistics to create the appearance of improvement:
“To evade public scrutiny, MPD leadership is deliberately falsifying crime data, creating a false narrative of reduced crime… This is a betrayal of our officers and the public we serve. Our members are working in conditions that would shock any reasonable person—overworked, underpaid, and disrespected by leaders who care more about appearances than reality. The city’s refusal to act is a disgrace, and we will not stand idly by while public safety collapses.”
This was not an empty accusation. As NBC4 reports, “A D.C. police commander is under investigation for allegedly making changes to crime statistics.” Specifically, Commander Michael Pulliam was allegedly pressuring officers to downgrade felonies and report serious crimes as misdemeanors.
Yet the tainted data is being repeated as gospel by Democrats and the corporate media. According to a Media Research Center report, “CNN and MSNBC cited the tainted crime data 73 times” during the first 24 hours following President Trump’s intervention.
D.C. residents, however, aren’t buying it. A May 2025 Washington Post-Schar School survey indicated that Washingtonians are profoundly unimpressed by Mayor Muriel Bowser’s record on crime. That poll found that fully 58 percent of Washington, D.C. residents rated her performance as “not good/poor.”
Moreover, as CNN’s Alex Thompson pointed out, “That same poll found that half of everyone in D.C. thought that crime was either a very serious or extremely serious problem in the District of Columbia.” Yet the Mayor posted this balderdash on X:
“Violent crime in DC is at its lowest level in 30 years,” Bowser claimed in the post accompanying that image. “We had an unacceptable spike in 2023, so we changed our laws and strategies. Now, crime levels are not only down from 2023, but from before the pandemic. Our tactics are working, and we aren’t taking our foot off the gas.”
But does Bowser also have her thumb on the statistical scale? Until she answers that question convincingly, she’s an ineffective mayor of a city where 100 murders have already occurred this year.
The Democrats, meanwhile, are stuck defending high crime rates and making absurd accusations against President Trump for having the courage to do something about the problem.
David Catron is a Senior Editor at the American Spectator. His writing has also appeared in PJ Media, the American Thinker, the Providence Journal, the Catholic Exchange and a variety of other publications.
Way to go, President Trump. End run against the Democrats as they continue to spew their lies about DC crime rate as the real truth of the situation emerges.
Dems don’t care about anybody that really works for a living. Coddle the criminals and they will vote for us. Love the way they say behind closed doors I’m glad he’s doing it then go out and whine about how bad it is that he is doing it. Dems, waste of good air
Every major U.S. city run by democrats, and that’s nearly all of them, has turned into a criminal cesspool of corruption, gangs, drugs, illegals sex trafficking, gender confusion, and homelessness. Once powerhouses of economic success, and showcases of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, they are now filled with ghettos, decay, crime in the streets, moral decline, indifference by their governing bodies, and a general spirit of hopelessness, entitlement, and fear. Democrats have a genius for poverty: they could turn a Ferrari into a Yugo, or Trabbi in no time flat. If democrats took over the Sahara desert, absolutely nothing would happen for three months straight, then the sand would rapidly get critically scarce.
I’ll repeat my question from an earlier AMAC article: Has Hillary Clinton taken a late night stroll down the DC slum zone in the past year? Obviously not, since she’s not been robbed, beaten or killed. Once again, the libtards repeat their meltdown responses to President Trump’s MAGA actions by falsifying statistics and calling DJT a racist dictator, when their FAILED LEADERS sat on their fat A$$ES and let the criminals rule the streets.
I want to see Chucky Schumer out walking around in Washington DC in the middle of the night by himself, without his security team. We can look for the police report the next day. “I feel perfectly safe” when your opponents are attempting to hang themselves, don’t take away the rope. You just can’t make this stuff up
Just another example of why Drats are dangerous. They lie manipulate statistics and expect people will believe them. In the meantime, people are dying because of them. It’s shameful.
Thank you AMAC for the reminder of how insane the left / liberal / democrat portion of this society actually is.
I fear I am not willing to listen to, read the pronouncements of or basically tolerate in most any form, having to deal with their insanity.
Thank you trying.
I also thank GOD, daily, for providing us with President Trump.
Y’all have a lovely day.
The democrats like crime in DC and other large inner cities. They love lawlessness and killing of White folks. They applauded it during the 2020 riots from Harris on down. Anything president Trump does the first thing they scream, impeach him. Obama has destroyed this country in dividing the country in a race war. They used Trump as a hateful figure because they have no grasp what America and Americans are all about. Obama hated America and through lies and halftruth he controlled the country. He had thought the communist democrats would keep power forever. Lo and behold president Trump became president in 2016 and what did they do, an elaborate hoax to overthrow him. When that didn’t work they tried impeachment twice when that didn’t work they indicted him 5 times. That also Didn’t work. Then they tried to assassinate him only God saved him. But their opposition continues because they are hell bent on destroying this country. It is just so sad that they have paid for demonstrators to get their point across. And always the same talking heads in Congress that call him names why? Because they have no leg to stand on. DC and inner cities are war zones. Crime is rampant because of the dems policies with no cash bail, stealing allowed to 999 dollars without consequences. Criminals let go and victims made into criminals. All in the name of DEI. Many many people don’t even know what DEI entails. They think it is a free pass to destroy the white race. That is where we are at. When a democrat goes on tv and says climate change is worse than crime in DC. Really? Being killed is not so bad? Why doesn’t MSM repeat that line 100 times in their newscast. Have you noticed MSM propaganda always is the same from tv outlet to tv outlet? They follow the script. It must be nice that they don’t have to think and repeat what is written for them over and over again. Puppets on a string. President Trump is restoring law and order one city at a time he promised that during his campaign and the people agreed and elected him. Promises kept.
The ONLY people against this are the ones who have 24/7 security coverage and the ones too damned stupid to listen to themselves and what they sound like…i.e. “GIVE US CRIME! DON’T TAKE AWAY OUR CRIME! WE MUST KEEP OUR CRIME!”
Honestly, can’t make this stuff up.
How can anyone vote for Democrats since they Do Not care about citizens safety, life, and they don’t care about victims of crime but embrace the perpetrator.
LMAO. Even if crime in DC IS at a 30-year low, what kind of sick fks DON’T want it stopped? What they’re effectively saying is “No, no! We wanna KEEP crimes being committed here! How DARE you try to STOP murders, rapes, robberies, all our crime!” These democrats have the brains and self-awareness of a freakin’ eggplant.
Facts speak for themselves, not even Hilary who is the last person to open her mouth, can change them. She sank so low a dwarf is a giant in comparison to her
I challenge any or every Democratic party politician to walk the streets of D.C. alone, in pairs, or even small groups with no security or forewarned police shadowing from a block behind anytime night or day. You won’t do it, will you?!
Here is the problem as I see it. The D.C. residents are unhappy with the mayor; however, come election time, the D.C. residents will either reelect her or someone equally leftist, if not further to the left. This is what happened in Chicago. So the problem is not the elected official, but, the electorate who continues to vote for a different person with a similar ideology. This voting behavior can be attributed to the definition of insanity that voting for the same party over and over again expecting different results. Ain’t gonna happen.
Trump is doing the right thing. Unfortunately he is limited by his insistence of following the Constitution and law when it comes to enforcement. DC is a disgrace with rampant crime.
Bravo President Trump!! Part of the real crime here are the Dems and people like Clinton. What is wrong with the Dems?
he just makes a$$es out of them on a daily basis.
Once again the Democrats are proving the old adage and that if their lips are moving they are lying. All I can say is when the Democrats are attempting to hang themselves, do not take the rope away …
I remember my third grade teacher describing Washington, D.C. as “a disgrace, especially as our capital city.” This was in 1958 or 1959.
President Trump is doing great at everything he gets involved with!! Only thing left to do is seize all assets and deport the Democratic Party, elitist, Socialist, Communist, Marxist and Muslims/Hamas and anyone else who wants to destroy America and the American people indefinite!!!!!
Here’s the Just, Here’s the SIMPLE Truth, THEY LIE They Fudge the #’s to MAKE IT “FIT” Their Narrative. They Always Have, They’ve Been Doing This Every Chance They Get, When They’re In A Position to DO SO. Well, Look At The Majority of Our “Larger Cities” & Look At Who & What’s IN CHARGE… Then, SEE The Many Commonalities Including They’re NOT Reporting ANY Stats With ANY Truths. Again, Been This Way For at Least 16+ Years. At LEAST.
Yeah…………they ARE pretty easy to dupe now aren’t they?!?!?
David Catron is on the ball! Would like to read more from him.
As for DC crime stats… Donkeycrat politicians are incapable of telling the truth… they’ve been heard loudly accusing themselves in the mirror, of not being who they appear!????
The Democrat Party is the Party of Criminals. They have no credibility at all, except with their uneducated, uninformed and ignorant supporters. Even some people in their lapdog news media are questioning them. It is hilarious to see how they are being manipulated by President Trump.
This morning I was thinking of coming up with a hat, “Make America Unsafe — Vote Democrat”. What do you think?
Democrat politicians don’t give a damn about regular working Americans and their safety. They don’t even know that is what the government is all about, protecting the citizens from harm. They don’t care we are in harms way, they are useless and self-serving. SAD!!
Several KEY FACTS here: 1. The only thing Democrats defend are their FAILED policies and CRIMINALS. 2. Every Democrat vomits out the same LIES – “Crime rates are down”. 3. The mega-corrupt Fake News media backs up the same LIES. 4. If an overwhelming number of D.C. (District of Crime) residents say crime is up, and they aren’t buying what the crime-loving Democrats and Bowser are ‘selling’ them, WHY IN THE HELL DO THEY KEEP ELECTING THESE CRIME-LOVING CROOKS???????
DUMBA$$ VOTERS, YOU DESERVE AND GOT WHAT YOU VOTED FOR.
WISE UP IDIOTS AND START VOTING FOR CRIME-HATING CONSERVATIVES!!!
Jamie Raskin needs to spend a few nights by himself in DC’s Anacostia district before he heads to the capital building. The Washington Post published an opinion piece from Megan McCardel that noted the fact that when counting murder rates per capita; DC is more dangerous than Boston, New York City and Los Angeles. But you don’t get this fact from the lame stream media.
Trump– Gets an A+ for the(Jjob}] he is doing in D.C. ????????????
Sure, crime is down, just ask Chuck Schumer, he often walks around DC. Sure he does, from a building to the car, surrounded by protective agents.
ain,t it amazing how the facts by AMAC gone shine a lite on truth.
I love amac
Go Trump. Hope Trump sues like he did against Paramount/60 minutes – with a nice fat settlement.
I wonder if we could get Trump to do that in New York, LA, and Chicago? It would be fun to see al the dems/leftists cry.
Hillary Clinton’s brain is in free fall just like the rest of the Marxist/democrat party. They have nothing to offer and can’t believe America is being brought back from the precipice of their destruction. Keep pointing fingers Hillary and telling lies. It’s what you all do best.
Only criminals and those who are benefited by crime want less law enforcement.
Great artical.
Good, awesome, dupe those Democrats. Get em Donald!
Now, if you aren’t a pedophile as many are claiming, why don’t you prove them wrong by throwing open the Epstein Files?
Those of us who pay attention, get it. Keep on provoking the democrats to show who they really are. Thank You President Trump.
Not to belittle Trumps accomplishments, but I think the Democrats have been supporting high crime for many years now. I think TDS caused the Democrats to publicly admit/expose their real beliefs.