Just another thing Trump doesn’t think about. He enacts “martial law, kindof” in Washington, D.C. The visuals of that are not good, to frame the situation in the mildest possible terms. But the problem doesn’t stop with appearances and PR. No, Trump’s actions go right to the bottom line as D.C. businesses are getting clobbered. Many of them will have to close if this keeps up. We know it will for about 27? 28? Ish? More days, and then Trump is going to try and wheedle an extension out of Congress. Or he might just try to put his foot down and do some sort of stupid executive order.
But no matter what he does at the end of 30 days, he’s going to have a fight on his hands. I’m hoping at least *some* Republicans won’t go belly up if he stomps around at the end of those 30 days, because this is ridiculous and it’s hurting the city. That doesn’t matter to Trump, but still! From JoeMyGod:
On Monday, the day Trump announced he would invoke the D.C. Home Rule Act and federalize the city’s police department for the first time in history, online reservations in the District dropped by 16% compared to the same date in 2024, according to data from OpenTable. On Tuesday, as the National Guard began being mobilized in the District, reservations were 27% below their 2024 levels. On Wednesday, they were down 31%. As of Sunday, the city stands nearly alone among the largest 20 U.S. cities tracked by OpenTable in having a drop in August dining reservations compared to last year.
Yea. Trump doesn’t care. He likely just shuffles all of it into a “crime crackdown”. These places are people’s livelihoods! What are they going to do if they have to close? How do you file for unemployment with that? It’s going to be a hard fight anyhow. If they are the business *owners*, they will NOT be able to file. What the hell do they do then???
“This whole thing is being billed as a violent crime crackdown, but it’s just an immigration sweep,” Mark Rutstein, co-owner of Crush Dance Bar, told The Advocate on Saturday. Rutstein said the visible presence of law enforcement for blocks sparked protests and “customer flight.” Thursday sales at Crush dropped 75 percent, and Friday, typically one of their busiest nights, was down by more than half. “Washingtonians leaving the city to avoid the chaos on top of a reduction of tourism is crippling small businesses,” he said.
Exactly. Thursday sales drop 75%. That’s pretty big. That has to hurt. This is just one example. There have to be many more than that. And they’re *all* getting hit. Plus, I don’t think it’s possible to close down and then reopen later. There are still bills to be paid. Everything I read about this just hurts. Here are some quotes from a couple of tweets.
NEW: Reservations at D.C. restaurants dropped 16% YoY the day Trump announced his police takeover. The next day, 27%. By Day 3 they were down 31% compared to 2024. It couldn’t come at a worse time. D.C. Summer Restaurant Week starts… tomorrow. //// Another bar owner in Adams Morgan said that business is “not sustainable,” losing thousands a night. //// DC bar owners say Trump’s crackdown is killing business.
WHAM. In just a few days, their businesses have lost SO MUCH. How many are going to have to close their doors? Even one is too many. There’s going to be more than one. I don’t know how business is for any of the chains, but if their dropoff is this bad, they might have to close their locations, too. This is destroying DC. Just destroying it.
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, with the exception of one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to keep going in our quest to tell the truth about Trump and see democracy survive. If you can help, please do. Thanks. Ursula
You got it in one: destroying DC is exactly what Trumpler would love to do. He knows the city hates his guts, has ostracized him and his sleazeball family and will never give him the homage he believes is his due.
Allowing them to relive the COVID experience for no good reason other than he need a distraction from Epstein.