President Trump's crime crackdown in our nation's crime-riddled capital city is starting to have an impact, according to new stats released by the city's police union (which endorsed Trump's move). We'll get to those numbers below, but first, a few thoughts: It has been striking to see many opponents of the 'Trump takeover' policy try to argue that there is no real crime crisis in DC, which has been the dishonest party line for years, at this point. One can oppose Trump's move as overreach, or at least harbor qualms about it, without resorting to alternate universe denialism. The city is wracked with crime. It's a national embarrassment and disgrace. In just the last few weeks, a former member of Trump's DOGE team was brutally beaten by a pack of criminal 'youths' as he bravely attempted to prevent yet another carjacking, and a young Congressional intern was shot dead in an all-too-common 'wrong place, wrong time' murder.
Crime has long plagued the District, but in recent years, the wave has extended well beyond the "usual" or "bad" areas -- even victimizing prominent people, including multiple members of Congress and many members of their staffs. Trying to pretend this is fine and normal, or not really happening at all, is insulting. Watching leftists and journalists performatively post on social media about how this is all a figment of the Right's imagination is similarly insulting. Good question:
If the crime crisis is nonexistent, why is the city under an overnight curfew for kids 17 and under? https://t.co/VL8EgOztiK
— Brit Hume (@brithume) August 12, 2025
Similarly, why would signs like this be necessary from beleaguered, law-abiding citizens?
🚨Spotted in DC: Someone put a note on their car window asking for their car not to be broken into a FIFTH time.
— Nick Minock (@NickMinock) August 11, 2025
The person writes, “There is nothing of value in this car. Only restaurant supplies + broken dreams. Plz don’t break the windows for the fifth time.” @7NewsDC pic.twitter.com/2j6ZH1WD9G
"For the fifth time." This is truly beyond parody:
Perfect. pic.twitter.com/9s139RKdHY
— AG (@AGHamilton29) August 11, 2025
Indeed, it's hard to live in the vicinity of our capital and not know of someone impacted by crime. I personally know several. Then there's this very bizarre 'well, sure there's crime, but it's not really that bad, even if I've been victimized a few times' flex:
They can't hear themselves. pic.twitter.com/HRiZ1I8bYW
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) August 18, 2025
Other efforts at gaslighting minimization have also backfired spectacularly:
If you’re going to argue that discussion of violent crime is “propaganda” from “people who have never set foot in your community..”
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) August 14, 2025
You better make sure your own husband hasn’t gone on record to media about violent crime being so bad it drove businesses out of that community. pic.twitter.com/tu8PICf7QS
That's about as clean a hit as you're ever going to see. But haven't you heard? Despite having exceptionally high levels of violent crime and murder, DC crime is "down 30 percent." That's what we were told, in unison, by nearly the entire lefty political class last week, especially from those in the 'news' media:
Newest Democrat talking point just went out pic.twitter.com/r8zi9Cjhuz
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 11, 2025
Leftists often lean heavily into emotionalist "lived experience" arguments when data and stats aren't on their side, but they tend to disregard any lived experience that doesn't bolster their agenda. In this case, they're beating the drum on crime statistics as gospel (these stats can sometimes be complex and incomplete in general) while ignoring this recent scandal...about the manipulation and falsification of crime stats in...Washington, DC:
MAKE DC SAFE AGAIN
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) August 11, 2025
For all the "reporters" who are trying to gaslight the public into thinking DC is completely safe, here is a reminder the "stats" they are citing is not what it seems.https://t.co/tkjpncCJgr pic.twitter.com/WcFp19oICi
From @alanagoodman: 'A DC Police Sergeant Exposed Her Superiors for Misclassifying Crimes To Make Stats Look Low. The City Just Quietly Settled Her Lawsuit.' https://t.co/yfjYF3ACDA pic.twitter.com/gfuh7rKD6y
— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 14, 2025
When people stop reporting entire categories of crime, and when official numbers are fraudulently influenced in order to produce false outcomes, crime numbers can indeed look "better." The degree to which many DC residents have welcomed Trump's decision, and the city's progressive mayor has been relatively muted in her critique of it, suggests that people know the happy stats are garbage and don't want to keep tolerating lawlessness. These voices don't necessarily represent the dominant view in deep blue DC, but they matter, and I strongly suspect (and so, evidently, does the mayor) that they speak for many people in the District:
Business owners in DC's roughest neighborhoods are welcoming law and order! https://t.co/qT1Z5mpAIO
— David M. McIntosh (@DavidMMcintosh) August 18, 2025
D.C. teacher SUPPORTS @POTUS' actions to keep his city SAFE for his children:
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 18, 2025
"As a moderate, as a centrist, I think something needs to be done. I have three kids... I want it to be safe." pic.twitter.com/BjEm7iAH2H
GAIA Supperclub in Washington, DC spoke out in support of President Trump working to stop crime in DC.
— Leftism (@LeftismForU) August 15, 2025
They often have criminals circling the area choosing which cars to target, and have had both staff and customer cars broken into.
The entire block would often get all cars… pic.twitter.com/7liAJfOIyQ
One wonders what the "crime is down by 30 percent" crowd will say about these brand new numbers, which presumably haven't been twisted by the bogus reclassification scandal:
DC crime since the announcement of federal control versus the 7 days prior:
— DC Police Union (@DCPoliceUnion) August 18, 2025
Robbery ⬇️46%
ADW ⬇️6%
Carjacking ⬇️83%
Car Theft ⬇️21%
Violent Crime ⬇️22%
Property Crime ⬇️6%
All Crimes⬇️8%
While federal assistance gives us a boost, we must repeal the misguided Comprehensive…
The Democrats' official position is that the current policy represents outrageous authoritarianism by Trump in response to a nonexistent or exaggerated problem. They want to roll back the clock on the decisions that directly precipitated these major decreases in crime. GOP operative Logan Dobson makes a fair point in response to these fresh data points: "I think it’s incumbent on opponents of the DC crime crackdown to identify which Washingtonians they are willing to have be victims of violent crime in order to end the current policy." Make that case, Democrats. Explain yourselves. Also, it's fascinating to see some of the loudest proponents of the "nonexistent crime crisis" line shifting to "the enforcement resources aren't being sufficiently deployed to where the really bad crime is. A few notable replies to that pivot:
Days ago you told us there was no crime problem!
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 18, 2025
Also: pic.twitter.com/0m34mN06TQ
— Randy Barnett (@RandyEBarnett) August 18, 2025
I'm all for making sure that resources are being used effectively and efficiently, of course. But I must ask: Logically, if the worst crime areas aren't seeing the beefed-up enforcement, what does that say about the plummeting crime stats showcased above? Perhaps the crime really has been all over the place, not just in the 'worst' areas? Left-wingers in DC have been engaged in their special brand of shrill, unhinged Resistance Theater, holding rallies, and even hurling sandwiches (images of the deranged white tosser -- who's since been fired from his DOJ job -- berating officers of color should be placed in a time capsule of our current era), glomming on to any "fascism" they might witness. As is so often the case with "outrageous" anti-ICE, anti-deportation sob stories in the media bloodstream, one supposed poster child incident isn't quite playing out as advertised by the agitators:
.@Politico Playbook today was written to fear DC residents into believing federal law enforcement randomly arrested an innocent “moped driver.”
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) August 17, 2025
If Politico had reached out to the White House for comment before publishing, we could have provided them with the facts:
The “moped… pic.twitter.com/JeMksKnRNp
The “moped driver” was an Illegal Alien Criminal from Venezuela with suspected gang affiliation and an active final order of removal from the country. Upon his arrest, the Illegal Alien Criminal resisted arrest and a law enforcement officer suffered a concussion as a result.
This "victim" of Trump's autocracy, or whatever, was an illegal immigrant criminal with a final deportation order against, him. Full, and exhausted, due process. Then he assaulted an officer while trying to once again break our laws. Another very poor choice for Temporary Resistance Hero status. I'll leave you with this evergreen tweet from the hopelessly out-of-touch but ravenously power-hungry national Democratic Party:
STATEHOOD FOR D.C.
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) August 11, 2025
If DC were, God forbid, made a state overnight, here's how its murder rate would measure up:
DC would instantly have the highest statewide homicide rate in the country https://t.co/RJDww5kI25 pic.twitter.com/SNhnBBxzJ4
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) August 11, 2025
When DC is thriving, they want statehood. When DC is failing terribly, they want statehood. When DC defies Trump, they want statehood. When Trump exerts controversial but lawful controls over DC because of the leadership's catastrophic failures, they want statehood. It's almost as if the whole project is only about conjuring two new ironclad blue US Senate seats, in order to pad systemic power advantages for their partisan ends. Or as James Carville might call it, 'Saving Democracy' through the radical uprooting of institutions and norms. The "threats to our democracy" crowd is packed with actual threats to our democracy adherents:
So much of the performative panic over institutions and “democracy” is pure projection. Never let these people burn it all down. Many of them want to. pic.twitter.com/PxPKAQRqUW
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 15, 2025
Editor's Note: The days of lawlessness in Washington, D.C. are over. Thanks to President Trump, our nation's capital will be SAFE once again.
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