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President Donald Trump is moving to beef up the federal law enforcement presence in Washington, DC — and even floating the possibility of calling up the National Guard — in response to an alleged crime wave sweeping the city.
“Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has sadly been plagued by petty and violent crime for far too long,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN Thursday. “President Trump is committed to making our Nation’s capital safer and even more beautiful for its residents, lawmakers, and visitors from all around the world.”
Here’s the thing: The idea that DC is in the midst of a crime spree is utterly false. As is the idea that it is somehow more dangerous than it has been in years past.
And that’s not just my opinion!
In 2024, according the Department of Justice, violent crime in DC dropped to its lowest level in 30 years!
And 2025 is even less violent so far, according to figures from the DC police department:
So, why does Trump think there is more crime — contra the data?
Because a famous/infamous former DOGE staffer named Edward “Big Balls” Coristine was assaulted earlier this week in DC.
Which is bad! I want to live in a city where that doesn’t happen! At the same time, one mugging isn’t proof of much other than the fact that big cities do still have crime. And likely always will…until we pass that pre-crime bill.
The bigger question I have is whether Trump actually believes that DC is a crime ridden hellhole or is simply taking these measures to distract from other issues — like the ongoing controversy over the release of files tied to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
While I am tempted to assume this is all just a distraction engineered by Trump, I also know that he is a regular Fox News watcher. And if you watch Fox News — and I do — you know that anytime a crime (especially a violent one) is committed in a major city in the U.S., Fox spends large amounts of time covering it.
And so, if all you watch is Fox News, you probably believe that you can’t walk down the street in DC or San Francisco without getting beat up.
Given that, I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump actually believed that the nation’s capitol was in the midst of some sort of crime wave.
It’s just not though. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said: You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts.
