The crime and dysfunction in Washington, D.C., is an embarrassment to the country. President Donald Trump rightly called out the problem at a press conference on Tuesday and offered a solution.
“We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to. We could run D.C. I mean, we’re … looking at D.C.,” Trump said. “Susie Wiles is working very closely with [Mayor Muriel Bowser].”
Wiles is the president’s chief of staff. What Trump said Tuesday is actually doubling down on comments he made earlier in the year.
“I think that we should govern District of Columbia,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One in late February, according to Reuters. “We should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely flawlessly beautiful. And I think we should take over Washington, D.C.—Make it safe.”
Trump’s talk of the federal government taking over Washington comes just more than a week after 21-year-old student Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was shot and killed at a Metro stop in Northwest Washington.
Tarpinian-Jachym had been an intern of Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kan.
“I will remember his kind heart and how he always greeted anyone who entered our office with a cheerful smile,” Estes said in a statement according to Fox News. “We are grateful to Eric for his service to Kansas’ 4th District and the country. Please join Susan and me in praying for his family and respecting their privacy during this heartbreaking time.”
The killer is still on the loose.
This is just the latest heartbreaking murder in the nation’s capital which has been beset by a surge in violent crime since the 2020 George Floyd riots. While the massive national spike in violent crime waned in many cities, including in the district, the problem remains.
And Washington is now seeing another big spike in violent crime that started in late spring.
In May, 20 people were killed in the city, including two young people who were working at the Israeli embassy. Targeted, ideological killings were added to the sickeningly mundane murders that take place on a regular basis.
This reality is shameful. Trump is right to call out the unacceptable dysfunction of the federal district. Which is why his call to “take over” the district is serious. In fact, I’ve argued for years that not only is the District of Columbia statehood idea just a cynical ploy for Democrat votes, but it’s also the exact opposite of what should happen.
There is a very good case that Congress should end home rule for Washington and reclaim its authority to govern the city that was forfeited—some say unconstitutionally—in 1973.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, proposed what he called the “Bowser Act” to do just that.
There is a strong reason to do this beyond just the fact that the city is beset by crime. The framers of the Constitution created the federal district to protect the people’s representatives.
“The indispensable necessity of complete authority at the seat of Government carries its own evidence with it,” James Madison wrote in Federalist 43. “Without it, not only the public authority might be insulted and its proceedings be interrupted, with impunity but a dependence of the members of the general Government, on the State comprehending the seat of the Government for protection in the exercise of their duty, might bring on the national councils an imputation of awe or influence.”
We’ve seen in recent years not just countless ordinary citizens being assaulted or killed in the nation’s capital, but even members of Congress.
This has gone on for too long. Even if you don’t live in Washington and find it to be a toxic swamp filled with grotesque swamp creatures, there’s still a reason to see the federal city improved. It’s where some of our country’s finest monuments and museums are located. It’s an important place to learn about American history. To leave it in a state of disrepair is an insult to the American people.
And while the basic competency of Congress may leave a lot to be desired, it’s hard to imagine that they couldn’t find a better way of running a city than the current city leadership.
Perhaps by threatening to end home rule, Trump hopes to goad the district government into acting. Clearly, pressure works. Trump and congressional Republicans got the city to remove a giant painting of the words “Black Lives Matter” from a street a block away from the White House.
But more needs to be done. And if it isn’t, I hope Congress takes the city back and makes it functional again.
