Among the many storylines that will accompany Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January is another chapter in his contentious relationship with Washington, D.C.’s liberal leaders who have seen America’s capital city succumb to chaos and violence.
On the campaign trail this year, Trump pledged to restore order to D.C. as one of his many promises if he were to be re-elected. “We will take over the horribly run capital of our nation in Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it, and rebuild our capital city so there is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime,” he said during one rally in Florida – floating the idea of revoking D.C.’s Home Rule, which Congress established in 1973. The 2024 Republican Party platform further states that the party “will reassert greater federal control over Washington, D.C., to restore law and order in the capital.”
Following Trump’s decisive victory on November 5, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has taken a surprisingly conciliatory tone toward the president-elect, promising a “collaborative” approach and reportedly requesting a meeting with the Trump transition team ahead of Inauguration Day on January 20. “I want to make it clear that Washington, D.C., is prepared to welcome the new administration, and we are committed to ensuring a smooth and collaborative transition,” she told reporters last week.
Nonetheless, Bowser has also been careful to note that her team has been “discussing and planning for many months in the case that the District has to defend itself and its values” – echoing plans from Democrat governors for how they intend to “Trump-proof” their states.
If history is any guide, Bowser’s civil rhetoric toward Trump likely won’t last long. During Trump’s first term, the three-term mayor worked to make herself the face of left-wing “resistance” to Trump, declaring D.C. a “sanctuary city” for illegal aliens and opposing his crackdown on violent crime.
Bowser’s campaign for media attention culminated during the George Floyd riots in 2020. As her city was overrun by riots, looting, and violence, Bowser renamed a two-block stretch just north of the White House as “Black Lives Matter Plaza,” emblazoning “Black Lives Matter” in large yellow letters on the street as a supposed rebuke of Trump. She also criticized Trump’s deployment of federal troops to restore order to the city as “racist.”
Under Bowser’s tenure, the nation’s capital has become one of the most dangerous in the country, with property and violent crime skyrocketing over the past decade. Murders were up 36 percent in D.C. last year, a 20-year high. Carjackings in the city, often committed by teenagers as young as 13 or 14, also exploded last year, doubling from 2022 and rising for the sixth straight year.
According to a report out earlier this year from the Manhattan Institute, crime has been on the rise in D.C. since 2019, even as crime rates have declined in some other cities. In one high-profile incident from last year, a staffer for Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was stabbed in broad daylight outside a Mexican restaurant.
Moreover, Bowser and her leadership team have overseen a mass exodus of police officers and a shortage of judges to handle mounting caseloads. Last year the number of D.C. police officers reached a half-century low even as crime rates reached historic levels.
Yet Bowser isn’t the only one to blame for the D.C.’s problems. The city council – made up of 11 Democrats and two liberal independents – is even more left-wing than she is. Last year the council overrode Bowser’s veto to pass sweeping changes to the city’s criminal code eliminating most mandatory minimum sentences and reducing mandatory maximum penalties on violent criminals.
The law was so extreme that Democrats and Republicans in Congress passed a resolution – ultimately signed by Joe Biden – overriding the council’s crime bill.
The failure of D.C.’s liberal leadership has sparked renewed discussions in Republican circles about revoking Home Rule in the capital city. Over the last century, D.C. has incrementally gained greater power for self-determination. In 1963, the 23rd Amendment gave D.C. residents three electoral votes for presidential and vice-presidential elections (previously residents had voted in either Maryland or Virginia). In 1970 D.C. gained a non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives before the 1973 Home Rule Act granted the city the right to elect a mayor and city council to pass laws subject to oversight from Congress.
Since then, liberals have been pushing for full statehood for D.C. – something the Founding Fathers clearly never intended, as they included a special carve-out in the Constitution for the creation of a unique capital city district. Republicans, meanwhile, have introduced several bills in recent years that would revoke D.C.’s Home Rule.
As long as the Senate filibuster is in place, Republicans would need at least 60 votes in the upper chamber to repeal the Home Rule Act – meaning that the nation’s capital city will very likely continue to elect a mayor and city council.
However, Republicans’ sweep of the House, Senate, and White House means that the GOP can exert greater oversight over the laws passed by D.C. Democrats. Trump can also use his executive authority as president to clamp down on crime.
While D.C. is home to some 678,000 residents, all Americans have a claim to partial ownership of the city. Each year billions of federal tax dollars go to maintaining the museums, monuments, and parks that preserve the nation’s history and culture. The city’s economy also relies heavily on federal workers whose salaries are funded by those same taxpayers. As the representatives of the entire country, Congress and the president have the right and responsibility to ensure good stewardship of the nation’s capital.
Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.
