The pace of the administration’s race to dictatorial control over the nation has increased at a frenetic rate over the last week, a week which saw the firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner, terminations of top-level FBI agents who have displayed insufficient loyalty to Trump, the termination of the IRS Commissioner over immigrants’ tax information, the appointments of special prosecutors to look into Sen. Adam Schiff and A.G. Letitia James, all the way to a president literally receiving a piece of gold in the Oval Office from a CEO who walked away with tariff exemptions, but with all of it added up, none matches the level of despotic overreach that will come about from a Trump attempt to federalize law enforcement in Washington D.C., especially use of the National Guard – an overreach for which Trump seems to be reaching.
Trump just posted to this Truth Social account notice of a coming press conference on Monday:
“On Monday a Press Conference will be held at the White House which will, essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, D.C. It has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World. It will soon be one of the safest!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT.”
About which, CBS News reports:
An attempted carjacking that injured a DOGE staff member in Washington, D.C., prompted President Trump to once again push for a federal takeover of the city’s government.
“If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City,” Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post. “I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City.”
Crime in Washington DC is lower than it is in many red states and capitols across the country. It is also down relative to the last two decades.
Donald Trump has announced a press conference that will pretend to address a *fictional* rise in crime in Washington DC. In reality, it is just a big barrel of bullshit that will be used as a pretext for an authoritarian takeover of the city.
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) 2025-08-09T14:58:18.552Z
That all of this is illegal is a quaint objection, as reported again in the CBS News analysis:
However, the president alone does not have the authority to federalize the district. It would require an act of Congress to overturn the 1973 Home Rule Act, which gave D.C. residents the power to elect the council members and mayor who pass and implement their local laws.
Of course, the executive in any state retains the ability to call out the national guard in emergencies, and that would seem to be the litmus test in this matter. It sure looks as though Trump wants to try to militarize policing, just as we saw happen in Los Angeles, and what better place to start than surrounding him in the nation’s capital. If one has plans for a third term or president for life, or blowing up elections altogether, this would be a necessary step, fortifying the capital. If this were Central America, the plot would be obvious to everyone. Trump apparently believes that one vicious assault justifies this against the records noted above.
This is fascism 101 – secure the Capitol as a loyal stronghold, and the net recognized it immediately:
And Fox News notes Trump’s hypocrisy on DC safety www.foxnews.com/us/trump-adm…
— Eric Columbus (@ericcolumbus.bsky.social) 2025-08-09T16:13:06.532Z
Remember that this has nothing to do with crime in Washington, which is plummeting, and everything to do with Trump making sure that he has effective command and control of the streets of the city in advance of eventually declaring martial law sometime around the 2026 midterms.This is *very* dark.
— Seth Abramson (@sethabramson.bsky.social) 2025-08-09T14:40:17.459Z
#ProudBlue #DemVoice1 If Trump federalizes Washington, D.C., why wouldn't he find an excuse to federalize a big blue sanctuary city like Chicago next.I hope our friends & family in the military or National Guard aren't ordered to help Trump turn America into a police state!
This might be one of the saddest Trump developments on which I have commented because there are so few guardrails here, and the implications are so obvious. Everything we see indicates that Trump is aware that his spell might break, and he will need protection. He is firing statisticians who report bad numbers, FBI officials who simply investigated the insurrection as independent officials, and now will try to unilaterally seize full control of the capital.
The irony is that this is a move instigated by someone too weak to rely on public support to do the right thing. He is going to do “his thing” even if it includes receiving gold in the Oval Office in exchange for tariff exemptions, and he will surround his compound with the military to do it in peace. We all await, with baited breath, a possible implosion that ruins the man for good, whether it is Epstein, or self-dealing, or embarrassment by Putin, not usually thinking about what happened last time, when he was clearly voted out, and called on an armed populace to war for him to keep him in… And yet somehow we see him as willfully leaving this time? About a scandal?
No. He is there until someone forces him out, and it sure seems as though he is sure of only two things. He cannot count on a majority of Americans to support him. But “ratings” mean nothing if no one can touch him. This is beyond depressing, and yet it is happening.
If only we had a Congress that would say no.
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He doesn’t have the powers to exert. It’s depressing but this will be challenged in the courts and eventually it will get to the SCOTUS. They will be presented with the national emergency argument, like the one he’s using for his tariffs, but the facts are against him. This will be a fork in the path. The justices will be faced with a choice between dictatorship and democracy, and if people take to the streets and demand it, democracy will prevail.
It’s looking increasingly like tRump and Miller and whoever else whispers sweet nothings in Despot Donny’s ear are going to create a tough situation in DC to combat. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but he is assembling the “thems” with more tools at his disposal (signing bonuses, student loan payoff–what’s up with THAT? Doesn’t he want the uneducated rubes for his “militia?”–and a cool $30 BILLION for ICE’s arrest and deportation efforts). And the “us’s” have goodwill, a cardboard sign, and belief in democracy. Talk about bringing a pen knife to a fight with military grade assault rifles! We certainly are “the Little Engine That Could. I sure pray we CAN!
“This is fascism 101 – secure the Capitol as a loyal stronghold’
The fly in the ointment here is that the actual population of D.C. overwhelmingly are definitely not Trump supporters. Trying to impose this dictatorship will be met by a large amount of resistance, some subtle, some not.
For once the Felon in Chief is correct. There is huge amount of criminal activity – all of it is happening in the Oval Office.
I’ve been wondering where Ground Zero will be for the next bloody chapter of America, it’s looking like it may well be DC. Cheeto’s desire to enact martial law in DC, and eventually the entire country, is being done under the guise of outrage over some no-balls technocrat being mugged, which is astounding in and of itself. But believe me, this is just the kick-off.
Ask no questions; that way, you won’t expect answers. Do as you’re told.