Trump’s federal takeover of DC dismissed as hypocritical, not based on facts and a threat to Black residents

“This is nothing on its face but racism and subjugation,” Jamal Holtz, president of D.C. Young Democrats, told theGrio.

In a crowded White House press briefing room, President Donald Trump announced an unprecedented federal takeover of Washington, D.C., including the deployment of the D.C. National Guard, federalizing control of the local police department, and declaring a public safety emergency.

Black elected officials and activists quickly pushed back against the Trump administration’s narrative on crime in the nation’s capital, asserting that the justification of the federal takeover is hypocritical, not based on facts, and a potential threat to D.C.’s majority Black and Brown population.

“The administration is justifying the decision by misleadingly citing years-old statistics,” U.S. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton said in a statement.

Norton, who has served as D.C.’s non-voting delegate in Congress for more than 30 years, noted that crime in D.C. reached a 30-year low in 2024 and is down 26% this year compared to the same time period last year. However, Trump, citing 2023 data, said the nation’s capital had the “highest murder rate probably ever.”

Trump also claimed that car thefts doubled over the past five years, and the number of carjackings has more than tripled. Crime data from the Metropolitan Police Department shows that “theft from auto” decreased by 4% and overall robberies were down by 28% year over year.

The streets of D.C., once known as “Chocolate City,” will soon see a surge of National Guard troops and local police patrolling through the city. Local leaders who are born and raised in the district say Trump’s takeover cannot be seen without the lens of race and democracy.

“This is nothing on its face but racism and subjugation,” Jamal Holtz, president of D.C. Young Democrats, told theGrio. “You have Republicans who want to take power over a democratic city, and particularly take power over a democratic Black-led city with majority Black and brown people.”

Washington, D.C. is a unique city in that it has no statehood, meaning no state government, despite its 700,000 residents being federally taxed without full representation in Congress with a voting member. For decades, D.C. leaders and activists have pushed for Congress to make the district a state.

“We know that access to our democracy is tenuous,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser during a press conference Monday, responding to Trump’s executive order. “We are American citizens. Our families go to war. We pay taxes, and we uphold the responsibilities of citizenship. And while this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past that we’re totally surprised.”

Markus Batchelor, political director of People For the American Way, said that due to D.C.’s lack of “full democracy and statehood,” the district has become Trump’s “personal playground.” The D.C. native told theGrio he is particularly concerned about the “unique threat” to Black residents, specifically Black youth.

“We will be a city under military occupation, and I think that will have a tremendous psychological effect on any community that would experience something like this,” said Batchelor. “This is unique, fortunately, in the experience of Americans, but not unique in the experience of people who live under authoritarian regimes. The reality on the ground will fundamentally change for residents of the District of Columbia.”

President Trump specifically targeted D.C.’s youth, calling for teen offenders to be charged as adults. Holtz said “there’s no crisis” as it relates to crime in D.C., and called the targeting of youth a “disgrace.” “Young people do make mistakes, but they also deserve the opportunity of having a second chance,” he told theGrio.

Batchelor said there won’t just be “symbolic consequences” to Trump’s executive action but real ones. He explained, “We saw him pepper spray and tear gas peaceful protesters for a photo op across a public park in the District of Columbia during his first administration,” referring to U.S. Park Police officers and National Guard troops’ actions in 2020 when Trump cleared a group of peaceful anti-police brutality protesters to walk through Lafayette Park and stand in front of St. John’s Church, where he held up a bible.

Critics of Trump’s federal takeover of D.C. also accuse him of hypocrisy, given that he did not deploy the National Guard in response to the violent mob of Trump supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, resulting in the injuries and deaths of police officers.

“It does not escape me that the president is calling in the [D.C. National Guard] on the pretext of a surge in crime that the numbers do not support, while he was nowhere to be found for hours on January 6, 2021, as D.C. officials tried to get him to mobilize the DCNG as the U.S. Capitol was under siege,” said Congresswoman Norton.

Following Trump’s refusal to accept his loss in the 2020 presidential election, Trump gathered tens of thousands of his supporters and instructed them to march to the Capitol as Congress certified the election results. A congressional investigation recommended criminal charges against Trump for his actions in the violent and deadly event.

“This is the same president that, on his way out of Washington, D.C., four years ago, unleashed a mob onto our streets and then upon re-entering our city, pardoned over 1,500 violent criminals who were charged under local and federal law here in the District of Columbia,” said Batchelor, referring to those convicted for the Jan. 6 attack. He added, “His rhetoric is as weak as his record when it comes to public safety in the District of Columbia.”

Holtz of D.C. Young Democrats said that if Trump really cared about addressing crime in the district, he would surge investments in public safety, education and health, not restrict it, as he has done through the nation’s budget, including his “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that his administration has deemed as “waste” and “fraud.” The Trump administration has also reportedly cut 44% of D.C.’s federal security funding worth $20 million.

“It’s not only the cuts in public safety, but public safety as an ecosystem. It’s also the cuts to Medicaid, it’s the cuts to food access, it’s the cuts to education…that creates a quality of life,” Holtz told theGrio. “Cutting those things leads to unfortunate incidents where people commit crimes of opportunity. You can’t say you believe one thing and sort of do another in that same breath.”

Brandon Weathersby, a spokesperson for American Bridge 21st Century, said if Trump “really cared” about “making life better for families,” he would “lower prices for households” as he promised to do as a candidate for president.

“Instead, he’s threatening to wage war on American communities to distract from his failure to bring down costs,” Weathersby told theGrio.

“Every day he spends staging military crackdowns is another day families are left struggling to put food on the table, keep the lights on, and afford a safe place to live,” he added. “Trump’s priorities make it clear: protecting his own power matters more to him than delivering for the people he swore to serve.” 

Responding to Trump’s action, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser reiterated that crime in Washington, D.C. is on the decline and that a federal takeover, while legal, is unnecessary.

“When we think of emergencies, it usually involves surges in crime and or crime that’s not being responsive, or tools that we have that we can’t use in the normal course,” said Bowser.

The D.C. mayor said the city will follow the law by complying with the Trump administration. However, she added, “I don’t want to minimize the intrusion on our autonomy.”

Gerren Keith Gaynor is a White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C. He covers the White House, Capitol Hill, and national politics.