Standing with the President 

National Guard troops have been called to DC to help local law enforcement with “logistics support, transportation, and administration duties.” The troops are also in DC as a show of force around the National Mall. DC has become a national embarrassment.

Gov’t’s Basic Mandate: Protecting Citizens 

Trump’s critics have portrayed his decision to act in DC as a thinly justified power grab, writes Issac Shorr in The Spectator. After only a little reflection, continues Shorr, it’s hard to believe it took this long for a president to do something, anything, about DC’s embarrassing state.

From an Army Spokesman:

“That’s part of our assignment – to go to the national monuments and be present.”

According to Elizabeth Crisp, writing in The Hill, the head of the DC police union praised President Donald Trump‘s “temporary takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deployment of National Guard troops.” Gregg Pamberton views Trump’s actions as a “critical stopgap” amid “out of control” crime in the nation’s capital.

From Union Chief Gregg Pemberton:

“We stand with the President in recognizing that Washington, D.C., cannot continue on this trajectory.”

Pemberton, agreeing with Trump’s assessment that crime in the D.C. area is out of control, claims the mayhem dates to 2020, “when D.C. City Council passed legislation that handcuffed police officers and made it impossible to charge criminals.”

Federal officers, assured Pemberton, will get some “handholding” from D.C. police to show them where crime is happening and how.

Continued Pemberton, “Crime in the District is out of control, and something needs to be done about it.” 

If Truth Be Told … 

In discussing crime, a DC resident, wishing to remain anonymous on conditions of security, told the Washington Post:

“This is a safe city but overhearing and witnessing gang threats and then watching the camera footage of the thuggery is disturbing.”

Defending the Indefensible

Numbers don’t always translate to a sense of greater safety. As Caroline Downey reports in NRO, it’s hard to be optimistic about the stats if you’ve had your car broken into and windows smashed not one, not two, but five times.

Pleading for a Reprieve

The DC victim conspicuously tapped  a note to his rear car window:

“There is nothing of value in this car. Plz don’t break the window for the fifth time.”