Trump’s aggressive push to take over DC policing may be a template for an approach in other cities
August 15, 2025
The left sees President Donald Trump’s attempted takeover of law enforcement in Washington as part of multifront march to autocracy. The right sees it as a bold move to break through the crust of Democratic urban bureaucracy and make D.C. a meaningfully better place to live. Where that debate settles, if it ever does, may determine whether Washington becomes a Trump-shaped model for how cities are policed, cleaned up and run — or ruined. Trump put some 800 National Guard troops on Washington streets this week. Then he upped the stakes by declaring federal control of the district’s police department. Alarmed local officials sued to block that, and the Trump administration partially retreated, for now.
