Jill Colvin.

As National Guard troops deploy across her city as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to clamp down on crime, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is responding with relative restraint. She’s called Trump’s takeover of the city’s police department and his decision to activate 800 members of the guard “unsettling and unprecedented” and gone as far as to cast his efforts as part of an “authoritarian push.” But Bowser has so far declined to respond with the kind of biting rhetoric and personal attacks typical of other high-profile Democratic leaders. The approach underscores the reality of Washington, D.C.’s precarious position under the thumb of the federal government and limited legal options.