YES, D.C. Is Just As Bad As Trump Says It Is; Washington, D.C., Feels Neither Safe Nor Clean Because It’s Not; Trump Forces D.C. to Get Real About Homelessness

Abigail Nichols/the federalist

Yes, D.C. Is Just As Bad As Trump Says It Is

It is so awfully sad to see how broken and violent D.C. is — and to so often feel scared in my country’s capital.

In just one summer of living in D.C., I’ve witnessed a couple fight over crack cocaine on the bus while the man threatened to beat his girlfriend and homeless regulars sleeping on Pennsylvania Avenue around the corner from the Capitol building, while rats roam right next to them. I’ve seen a dozen people show signs of schizophrenia as they yell at the empty bus seat or open space next to them.

I’ve witnessed homeless people encamp right outside of Union Station, a man try to break into my car while I was getting ice cream in the Eastern Market, single moms full of anger that they direct at their kids while on the Metro and buses, and urine perfume every Metro station I’ve been in.

You don’t have to look far to see the brokenness, violence, and filth that’s in D.C. In fact, I took a quick drive around the city and captured the photos below showing readers that reality. But that hasn’t stopped legacy media journalists from denying that D.C. has a problem — likely from their ritzy neighborhood bubbles and million-dollar mansions.

Earlier this week, for example, journalist Ron Kampeas boasted that he’s “never been carjacked,” and therefore it must not be an issue for anyone else in the city (despite the fact that he does not live in D.C.). The New York Times’ Peter Baker even called it a “nonexistent crime crisis.”

But anyone living in D.C. who has eyes and ears to see the homelessness, crime, filth, and boarded-up windows knows that D.C. needs help — and the president has finally taken concrete moves to do so.

Trump declared a “public safety emergency in the District of Columbia” during Monday’s announcement of an initiative to rein in homelessness and crime, starting with deploying National Guard troops, invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, and leaning into his Article II constitutional power.

“The District of Columbia has lost control of public order and safety in the city, as evidenced by the two embassy staffers who were murdered in May, the Congressional intern who was fatally shot a short distance from the White House in June, and the Administration staffer who was mercilessly beaten by a violent mob days ago,” said Trump’s presidential memo on Monday. --->READ MORE HERE

New York Post/YouTube

Washington, D.C., Feels Neither Safe Nor Clean Because It’s Not:

When your daily life in a city is marked by a series of fearsome conversations, signs of squalor, and dangerous encounters, no rational person can call it safe.

The Trump administration is confronting another major problem, so naturally, Democrats and the media are busy at work claiming the problem doesn’t actually exist or otherwise can’t be solved by any obvious solution. This time, it’s crime and disorder in Washington, D.C., something anyone who has lived there for 24 hours is appalled by.

I lived there for 14 years. The decay and lawlessness are a primary reason I left.

It was never worse during my time in the city than the past five years, and it never fully recovered by my departure in September 2024. The “Black Lives Matter” movement inspired D.C.’s elected Democrats to essentially legalize all sorts of theft and reduce the penalties on other crimes like carjacking and armed robbery.

After all that time spent in D.C., living in a grand total of six different neighborhoods, it’s a miracle I was never the victim of any crime other than someone attempting to break into my home while I was out of town once. (I won’t count that my car was stolen from a Metro parking lot because that was technically in Suitland, Maryland, minutes outside the city.) But I witnessed and heard from friends and colleagues of their own assaults, robberies, and general signs of danger.

The office for one of my previous journalism jobs is located downtown, three blocks north of the White House. One afternoon, a colleague left to head home when it was still bright out, only to return minutes later because a homeless man had reached up her skirt from behind just as she had made it to the sidewalk.

Another colleague’s car was broken into, and his suits were stolen. That same guy’s wife started her car to get it warmed up one winter day, and when she went back inside to grab their two young children, someone jumped in the driver’s seat and sped away. (Imagine if the children had been in the car and she had needed to run back inside for a moment.)

Out one Friday night with a group of friends, we found ourselves on the usually busy 14th Street in Northwest. In an instant, the friend directly to my right doubled back, and before I could even turn around, I heard him say, “I’m calling the police.” He had been punched in the face by a random person I hadn’t even noticed on the sidewalk. When the group of us advanced on the attacker, he fled. --->READ MORE HERE

Follow link below to a relevant story:

++++WSJ: Trump Forces D.C. to Get Real About Homelessness (READ MORE HERE or HERE)++++++

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