There probably isn't a bright red line or some official metric a city must measure up to — down to? — before being rated as Officially Ungovernable. But, if there is, surely Washington, D.C., crossed soon after the Martyrdom of St. George Floyd of Minneapolis.
"This is a safe city, but overhearing and witnessing gang threats and then watching the camera footage of the thuggery is disturbing," one D.C. resident told the Washington Post on Sunday. But — and I'm not making this up, so I'll quote WaPo reporters Olivia George, John D. Harden, and Jenny Gathright precisely — the resident who told them the city was safe was "speaking on the condition of anonymity over concerns of personal safety."
The mostly peaceful gang members tend toward violence when they hear you say they might not always be peaceful, I suppose.
Maybe that's why multiple sources inside D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's office and within the Metropolitan Police Department indicated to WUSA9 News on Sunday that President Donald Trump will "definitely deploy the National Guard" throughout D.C. in an effort to curb crime and tackle the District's homeless crisis.
"It has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World. It will soon be one of the safest!!!" Trump posted to TruthSocial on Sunday, promising to "essentially, stop violent crime" in D.C.
Longtime conservative D.C. resident (they exist) Inez Stepman responded to the news by reminding X users that "DC is so geographically small and the crime is so out of control, there are basically no 'safe' neighborhoods."
"To put this in perspective, people exaggerate how dangerous NYC is, gets a lot of coverage, but it’s still not great. The murder rate in DC, accounting for size, is TEN TIMES that of New York."
"Democrats are going to deny this because Orange Man Bad," she added, "but DC is insanely violent and was even before this current spike."
Crime is finally dropping from the highs hit during what I like to think of as "the Stupid Times" beginning in 2020, but remains well above 2019 levels.
"People talk about how crime is 'down' in DC," Varad Mehta posted, "but it's only down compared to the enormous spike during and post-COVID. It's still way, way higher compared to pre-COVID."
Without dragging you too deep into the Constitution, Congress in Article I was given the power and responsibility "to exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever" for the District. No statehood, no local government — just Congress running the seat of government. If nothing else, I wonder if the Founders gave Congress that job to keep them too busy to try micromanaging the rest of the country.
But I digress.
The District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973 didn't absolve congressional authority in D.C. — that would require a constitutional amendment — but it did allow residents to elect their own mayor and city council. And that's how our nation's capital became just another urban disaster area.
Like so much that happened during the Nixon administration, maybe the kindest thing you could say about home rule is that it seemed like a good idea at the time.
If Congress won't or can't take back control of D.C., or even institute a few necessary home rule reforms, sending in the National Guard — and ICE, too, according to other reports — is almost certainly the next best option.
Although that still does leave one important question: What the hell are we going to do about the schools?
Recommended: Dem Message of the Day: GERRYMANDER HARDER
Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
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