In a shocking about-face, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser credits President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of the city’s police department earlier this month with lowering crime in the nation’s capital.
After Trump announced the Aug. 7 surge of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement personnel into the city, Bowser called the move “unsettling and unprecedented.”
But in the next more conciliatory breath she also said it might help the city. “The fact that we have more law enforcement and presence in neighborhoods, that may be positive.”
Fast-forward to a press conference on Wednesday this week, when she gave Trump’s takeover full credit for reducing crime in Washington while also saying the use of federal troops and other law enforcement is “not working,” according to NBC News. Again both praising and criticizing the controversial takeover.
In the update, Bowser said crime has dropped, but she expressed concern for residents who she described as “living in fear.”
“We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what MPD has been able to do in this city,” the Democratic mayor said, referring to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Bowser said the biggest drop in crime involved carjackings, which she said have declined by 87 percent compared to the same period last year
“We know that when carjackings go down, when use of guns goes down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer, so this surge has been important to us,” she explained.
Bowser also revealed she’s been in contact with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
As one can imagine, Bowser’s conciliatory tone didn’t go over well with most Democrats, especially on DC’s City Council.
“This federal takeover is not necessary for any purpose whatsoever other than this authoritarian takeover that the President is planning to take to other states,” at-large City Council member Robert White Jr., denounced in a video on X.
“We should not, as the District of Columbia, be giving people the impression that this is a good thing, that we are OK with it, that it is helping the city. It is not doing any of those things,” White Jr. continued. “I am not OK with this. The average resident is not OK with this. D.C. residents, D.C. voters, are not OK with this,” he added.
Another Democrat, Ward 1 Councilwoman Brianne Nadeau agreed with White Jr.
“DC is under siege by our own fed govt, w/ armed military patrolling our streets & masked agents scooping up neighbors & taking them away. Our residents are afraid, hesitant to go out & to work, angry that our limited autonomy is being eroded. There is nothing welcome about this,” she posted on X.
Nadeau was responding to a X post from Ward 5 Councilman Zachary Parker, who said, “We, as city leaders, should be unequivocal that the federal surge of officers in DC and deployment of national guardsmen on our streets are dangerous, unnecessary, and an affront to Home Rule. We ought to be real clear about that. Real clear.”
Bowser’s praise of Trump didn’t go over well on social media either.
“Mayor Bowser blink 3x if you in danger girl,” Instagram user shownprove joked in a post about Bowser’s cave-in.
Another social media user thinks Bowser capitulated for obvious reasons. “Come on now we all know what this is. This woman is trying to hold onto her job.”
Someone wondered if she was pressured. “She was threatened or paid,” one said matter of factly.
“Be grateful or be defunded. Smh,” another wrote. Another added on X that Bowser doesn’t have any control and did what she needed to do to survive. “The mayor is doing what she feels she has to do to get through this. She doesn’t have much control. You’re not the one that has to take the bullets. Like another post said, you only come out when you’re against the mayor.”
While no one seemed to pin down the exact cause for Bowser’s praise, they need notice a pattern. Bowser was roundly critized by her followers in March when she caved to Trump’s push against DEI and dismantaled the Black Lives Matter Plaza.
“I wonder what she want from Don, a cabinet post?,” one user asked on X.
“No one should be surprised though she always capitulates to powerful white men,” wrote another under White, Jr.’s post.
Trump has threatened to send troops into Chicago and Baltimore, and he already deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this summer to help quell protests over immigration detentions and arrests, against state officials’ wishes.
The president, in an obvious political move, has not threatened to send federal law enforcement into big, crime-ridden cities in red states, either. “Since this is working so well, I wonder why the TN Gov doesn’t request Nat’l Guard for crime ridden Memphis, OH Gov for Cleveland and Dayton, and Mississippi Gov for Jackson,” Jim in the House wondered on X.
