The District of Columbia has routinely been collateral damage as a result of Donald Trump’s authoritarian tendencies and political shell games. His frequent attempts or threats to interfere in DC affairs for political or personal gain have often done direct harm to DC and its residents, but his latest action—placing DC police under federal control and activating the National Guard in a purported effort to combat crime— is a direct and disturbing escalation. As public pushback, even from the MAGA movement, has focused on President Trump’s relationship with charged sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the president has reached for a familiar punching bag to deflect attention: the District of Columbia. We cannot overlook that President Trump’s frequent unethical encroachments on DC threaten the financial and physical safety of the District and its residents time and time again.

Following the assault of a former DOGE staffer who attempted to stop a potential carjacking, Trump erroneously deemed crime in DC “totally out of control,” and threatened to take federal control of the city. In just under a week, he followed through, placing DC police under federal control and deploying the National Guard, despite a drop in violent crime. Attorney General Pam Bondi then attempted to exert even more control by establishing the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency as “emergency police commissioner,” who must approve any MPD directives before they are carried out. DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb subsequently filed a lawsuit arguing that the move was illegal, calling it “the gravest threat to Home Rule that the District has ever faced.” 

These moves have already had tangible effects on DC residents; notably, a combination of federal and local law enforcement created a vehicle checkpoint on 14th Street NW, carried out arrests and displaced members of DC’s unhoused community by targeting encampments. Members of the National Guard have positioned themselves at landmarks in the city alongside humvees as an alleged deterrent. Despite the unprecedented impact of Trump’s actions, DC residents have little clarity on where enforcement operations will take place or how long they will last. On Friday, following proceedings in federal court, the Trump administration reached an agreement with DC acknowledging that it could not replace DC Police Chief Pamela Smith or upend Mayor Bowser’s supervision of her. After the judge’s mandate, Bondi issued a new order requiring the mayor to continue to follow the administration’s law enforcement demands. Further legal challenges may certainly follow.

While Trump’s effort to exert control over DC’s police is new, his meddling in DC affairs is not. Even before Donald Trump first took the oath of office, he notoriously refused to divest himself from his vast business empire while serving as president, including his eponymous hotel in DC. Such major conflicts of interest were a clear violation of the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution which bar the president from accepting payments from states and foreign governments. This corruption directly harmed DC businesses and the city’s economy—including many restaurants and hotels—as influence seekers and foreign lobbyists spent money at his properties to garner favor. 

Then came Trump’s most transparent and egregious power grab on January 6, 2021. His continued fomenting of election denial led to an insurrection at the Capitol that put the lives and livelihoods of DC residents at an unprecedented risk. The insurrection caused millions of dollars in damage to DC and led to the injury to dozens of DC police officers who were forced to deploy to the Capitol to quell Trump’s insurrection—one even later died by suicide. All this during an insurrection where Trump failed to deploy DC’s own National Guard. Many DC residents were forced to shelter in their homes and pull kids from school amidst the violent attack President Trump incited on January 6th, and reasonably, many worry about future Trump-inspired attacks on their community.

In his second term Trump is still attempting to consolidate power in ways deeply affecting DC residents. His second term began with mayhem due to the Office of Management and Budget’s January memo, which appeared to freeze all federal funding. Facing immediate pushback, the administration created vague carve-outs to the order, but this only added to the uncertainty about who would still receive payments. As outlined by DC’s attorney general, the president’s actions “have sown immense chaos and confusion, causing many District residents to fear for their health and safety.” DC joined with 22 states to sue to block the funding freeze.

Not content with just attacking the funding channels, Trump then ruthlessly attacked federal workers themselves. Mass agency firings and budget cuts with limited transparency and legally dubious authority have put tens of thousands out of work, causing local unemployment to spike. DC is home to hundreds of thousands of federal workers and federal contractors. These are not nameless, faceless bureaucrats or even just essential members of DC’s taxbase. They are congregants at our churches, members of the parent-teacher association, rangers at our favorite local park. Yet, rather than see their humanity, Trump boasted about their sudden firing with glee.

Earlier this summer, Trump orchestrated a multi-million dollar military parade that required a major local police presence, extensive days-long road closures and other travel delays. Despite the administration’s promises that DC will be reimbursed for any of its expenses, Trump has left many cities including DC with large unpaid expenses following his political events.

Amidst the furor over his ties to Epstein, Trump made a series of intensifying threats before activating the National Guard. He first posted that he would prevent an RFK stadium deal under consideration by the DC Council if the Washington Commanders football team did not change its name back to its former name, a racial slur against Native Americans. Widely panned as a hypocritical political stunt, Trump made this threat even though he lacks the legal authority to make the deal and can, at most, throw procedural roadblocks in the way. Late last year, Congress passed a bill that gave the District of Columbia more control over the stadium plot. Regardless of the merits of the deal, this is unquestionably a decision for DC residents and their government.

Now we are witnessing the natural evolution of these attacks against DC, going after its hard fought self-governance regime and directly consolidating power under Congress and the federal government. Trump and his allies in Congress are undermining DC Home Rule with a barrage of bills to repeal policies that the DC Council democratically enacted and even to repeal Home Rule itself. While the mayor, DC attorney general, and many other DC elected leaders have pushed back on these incursions, without statehood or voting representation in Congress, defending against these incursions on DC’s autonomy is more challenging. President Trump’s latest actions are a direct attack on the democratic self-governance of hundreds of thousands of Americans across demographic and economic backgrounds. DC residents also pay the highest federal taxes per capita in the country. More importantly, Trump’s actions are another chilling harbinger of what he could do in the future to facilitate another attempt to overturn the next presidential election, even as he continues his illegal encroachment on election administration, and threatens to run for president again despite the 22nd Amendment’s prohibition on being elected to a third term. 

While so much of President Trump’s corruption and authoritarian conduct is unpredictable, attacking DC is a mainstay. Unless this administration is held in check by the other government leaders and civil society, the very character of DC and the livelihood of its over 700,000 residents will be under threat. And if Trump’s authoritarian actions against DC are allowed to stand, the damage could extend far beyond the city limits.