The District of Columbia, the enclave that includes our nation's capital city, is far from the shining representation of the greatest nation in the history of the world that it should be. Crime and homelessness plague the city; it's not safe for the law-abiding citizenry to walk the streets at night. It's an intolerable situation, but it seems President Trump has a notion about putting things right - and on Monday, we'll all know what the plan is.
The president has already ordered federal law enforcement to move in to help establish some order in the city, but those orders were temporary; my colleague Rusty Weiss has more on that:
President Donald Trump has ordered federal law enforcement to patrol Washington, D.C., for seven days starting at midnight on Friday, the White House announced. The move comes in response to a surge in violent crime in the overwhelmingly Democrat-run nation's capital.
The deployment includes agencies like the U.S. Park Police, FBI, DEA, ATF, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Any real fix will have to be a longer-term one.
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President Trump is right to be concerned; the District is out of control. It looks as though his plan has two parts: Removing the homeless encampments and clamping down on criminals. There is as yet no information on what will be done with the homeless, other than relocating them. As for the criminals that infest the District, President Trump seems pretty clear on what's to be done:
The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail, where you belong. It's going to happen very fast, just like the Border.
There's a key difference, of course; many of these criminals are American citizens and have rights under the 4th and 5th amendments. Criminals they may be, but they have to be tried and convicted before any sentence can be levied; the current D.C. leadership hasn't been overly interested in prosecuting criminals, and that will take time to change.
Getting the streets of the District under control could happen more quickly. We might note as well that the District of Columbia National Guard, which is under the direct command of the president, includes the 372nd Military Police Battalion, which is a considerable force trained and ready to bring order to the nation's capital, and dealing with civil unrest is, after all, part of the National Guard's mission.
If the current crime rates in the District aren't a threat to civil order, I can't imagine what might be.
In the end, Congress may well have to act. Repealing the District of Columbia Home Rule Act would be a good start, but that's probably not going to happen in this Congress. And, any would-be perpetrators have to be made to understand that there will be consequences to their actions, and those consequences must be harsh enough to give them pause, to make them engage in some mental calculations, at least to the extent that they are capable of doing so - and if they proceed, they should face those harsh consequences, swiftly, and consistently.
Then, maybe, our nation's capital will be what it should be - a shining city on a hill.
Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
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