--- title: The Danger of Trump’s Crackdown on Blue Cities description: "If we normalize what has happened in D.C. through acquiescence, we will have quietly conceded our democracy," writes Elizabeth Goitein. canonical: https://time.com/7321064/danger-trumps-crackdown-blue-cities/ author: Elizabeth Goitein article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-27T10:30:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T13:07:20.212Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Danger of Trump’s Crackdown on Blue Cities og:description: "If we normalize what has happened in D.C. through acquiescence, we will have quietly conceded our democracy." og:url: https://time.com/7321064/danger-trumps-crackdown-blue-cities/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a2b4d27c8badde0/6998ca17f1b0826d1d6f1b87/National-Guard-DC.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Members of the Ohio National Guard og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Danger of Trump’s Crackdown on Blue Cities twitter:description: "If we normalize what has happened in D.C. through acquiescence, we will have quietly conceded our democracy." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a2b4d27c8badde0/6998ca17f1b0826d1d6f1b87/National-Guard-DC.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  IDEASTime ideas # The Danger of Trump’s Crackdown on Blue Cities by [Elizabeth Goitein](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-goitein/) ## Elizabeth Goitein Elizabeth Goitein is a senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law Sep 27, 2025 10:30 AM UTC  Members of the National Guard stand outside the Jefferson Memorial on September 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Members of the National Guard stand outside the Jefferson Memorial on September 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.Craig Hudson—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Elizabeth Goitein](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-goitein/) ## Elizabeth Goitein Elizabeth Goitein is a senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law Sep 27, 2025 10:30 AM UTC President Donald Trump’s attempted takeover of [Washington, D.C](https://time.com/7308788/trump-washington-dc-national-guard/). is a bright red flag for American democracy and the rule of law. If the American people accept that Trump’s show of federal force is about [crime](https://time.com/7309133/dc-crime-stats-trump-national-guard/)—and that crime justifies the militarization of D.C. or any other city—our country could be well on its way to becoming a police state. Already, Trump is discussing plans to [intervene](https://time.com/7309031/democrats-respond-trump-washington-dc-takeover-national-guard-baltimore-chicago-los-angeles-new-york-oakland/) in other blue cities. National Guard forces are [poised](https://time.com/7317466/memphis-trump-national-guard-crime-crackdown/?amp=true) to deploy in Memphis, and Trump has [said](https://time.com/7311770/chicago-trump-crime-stats/) that Chicago is “probably next.” Trump’s actions in the capital illustrate why this approach is such a dangerous abuse of power. Starting on August 11, on the pretext of addressing local crime in Washington D.C., Trump [commandeered](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/declaring-a-crime-emergency-in-the-district-of-columbia/) the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD); flooded the city with [500](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/us/politics/trump-dc-national-guard-police.html) federal law enforcement officers from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration; and deployed [950](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/army-extends-orders-dc-national-guard-nov-30/story?id=125266247) D.C. National Guard forces throughout the city. In addition, governors from multiple red [states](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/09/17/dc-national-guard-deployment-cost/86205202007/), including West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, and Tennessee, have sent [1,300](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/army-extends-orders-dc-national-guard-nov-30/story?id=125266247) National Guard forces to the District—most of them [now armed](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/national-guard-troops-dc-begin-carrying-firearms-rcna226890)—at the president’s invitation. The Trump Administration [disputes](https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/19/politics/doj-is-investigating-whether-dc-crime-stats-were-manipulated) statistics from the D.C. police showing a steady [downward trend](https://web.archive.org/web/20250811022655/https:/www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/violent-crime-dc-hits-30-year-low) in crime since 2023\. But even if there had been a major spike in criminal activity, a mobilization of this scale is more suited to a foreign military attack—or, say, an [assault on the U.S. Capitol](https://time.com/5953486/january-capitol-attack-investigation/) by insurrectionists. The conduct of these deployed officers is equally alarming. Federal agents have been filmed stopping and [questioning](https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/politics/knowing-your-rights-amid-a-federal-takeover-in-dc/65-d9b47151-dcea-4260-81d4-a107230b7642) people not engaged in any apparent illegal activity. [Video footage](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/17/dc-arrests-violent-takedown-immigration/) that surfaced the weekend after Trump’s declaration of a “crime emergency” captured a group of six masked agents violently tackling an unarmed delivery driver and appearing to use a stun gun on him. And on major commercial corridors, agents have set up [traffic checkpoints](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/us/politics/dc-police-national-guard-trump.html), which [may violate](https://reason.com/2025/08/15/d-c-residents-are-right-to-protest-unconstitutional-police-roadblocks/) the Constitution under Supreme Court precedent. In the 2000 case of [_Indianapolis v. Edmond_](https://shared.outlook.inky.com/link?domain=us.cisionone.cision.com&t=h.eJxtkkuPokAUhf9Kx-2MQJUUSK-6lBa0h7SgiLghPEoFmwKtKl6T-e%5FTJG4mmd3NSc79cu65vyfi8TV5fZlcOa%5FZqywLJqU5yytaUfKcpLQq5VQmm5YNDhBtj93F55JePBFkUTmYXdfPA%5F6-7NuPnMBb-Ot8h4DUad01Xu2Ye1Y6e7rGiQZMuoZ7ri787Rq6p5qxykgGe-nkxaYywugUAIFLh7kYnrJ-Eeaed1kWSj840GpKLwI7ywgOASBi7yS6X3cHP9pMLa6tjs6Wf65Qpq0b7BFzN4BzUYRnHYbGhzurBa6zd5o0uD6apXdvMDp29l2xL1VjDdZKQ%5F0aDJvsoJ7IncUXPUq3ECuLswvKigdqwafHrm2-43cs0feNaBU2bSOkmghsYTWsGr1NsTfsTrXtXn0r7IObb3t3P0TabgPD5XHW2hG-YBxFBooDdz75-TK5jWdPHoTSmKaEcvKQk0dV3Qgr3p6y9BW3Eu2FRDIhxyrJZjEwYjAHWUJgFs%5FPgJC5bmgpnAEiAx0hDUIDaRJQoKIqaMSQEVMJ%5FiBxev1RiK%5F8e-8T9Pa%5FqkdTNpr-lfj4JuDPXz3LuqM.MEUCIEyA%5F%5FYRu6YYt0WhxSih9wlotpQWc3L3J93Ax6jBcFzdAiEA7ayegSeL%5FjHRNf26yTBf6%5FiBmwxLKsdts-QqR446PoQ), the high court decided that traffic checkpoints as a means for general crime control violate the Fourth Amendment. There is little indication that these heavy-handed actions are targeted at the “violent crime” that is cited in Trump’s executive order and is of genuine concern to many D.C. residents. [Deployments](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/15/dc-police-national-guard-map-trump/) are not concentrated in high-crime areas of the District; instead, they are prevalent in areas with significant [tourist traffic](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/tourists-national-guard-washington.html). A striking percentage of arrests have been for [immigration violations](https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/police/trump-federal-takeover-stats-first-week-mpd-federal-officers/65-dc36408f-0898-4609-b3a5-ab1b78933631). Federal agents are aggressively [removing people experiencing homelessness](https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/15/politics/washington-dc-federal-agents-trump-homeless). Many of the operations have the look and feel of a photo opportunity—indeed, the administration reportedly sent [social media teams](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/white-house-sending-social-media-teams-with-fbi-some-arrests-dc-sources-say-2025-08-18/) to accompany the FBI on arrest missions. As D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has [noted](https://mayor.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/mayormb/release%5Fcontent/attachments/Situational%5FUpdate-Federal%5FSurge.pdf), crime rates in D.C., which had been steadily declining since 2023 according to [MPD data](https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/violent-crime-dc-hits-30-year-low), have dropped further since Trump’s actions. Bowser attributed this drop in part to the presence of additional federal law enforcement agents, but it is far too soon to know whether this show of force has had a crime reduction effect. In any event, cities around the country have [reduced crime dramatically](https://jasher.substack.com/p/murder-officially-plunged-in-2024) without engaging in the tactics of a police state—tactics that make people feel _less_ safe, as evidenced by the sharp drop in [restaurant attendance](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/23/dining/washington-restaurants-national-guard.html) and [tourism](https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/08/29/tourism-slump-trump-crackdown-national-guard) in D.C. since Aug. 11\. Notably, Bowser condemned as ineffective and harmful many of the core features of Trump’s D.C. takeover: the deployment of state National Guard forces, the conduct of masked ICE agents, and the subversion of local control. In short, these actions smack of intimidation more than protection. Empirically, there is [no correlation](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adq8052) between the political party of a city’s mayor and crime rates, yet all of the cities Trump has name-checked—Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Oakland, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Memphis—are led by Democrats. Trump’s D.C. takeover is could be understood as part of a [campaign](https://www.npr.org/2025/04/29/nx-s1-5327518/donald-trump-100-days-retribution-threats) to punish those whom he considers to be his political opponents. ## The threat to fundamental freedoms To accomplish this end, Trump is taking a page from [El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele](https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/el-salvador/) and other authoritarian rulers around the world: abusing emergency powers in the name of cracking down on crime. Under Section 740 of the District of Columbia [Home Rule Act](https://dccouncil.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Home%20Rule%20Act%202013%20%282-11-14%29.pdf), Trump can temporarily make use of the MPD “whenever the President of the United States determines that special conditions of an emergency nature exist which require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for federal purposes.” By definition, an “emergency” is a sudden, unforeseen crisis. However serious the crime problem in D.C., it is not sudden or unforeseen. It is an ongoing issue that requires [thoughtful, empirically-tested long-term solutions](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/myths-and-realities-understanding-recent-trends-violent-crime). And combating “[violent, menacing street crime](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/restoring-law-and-order-in-the-district-of-columbia/)” is not a “federal purpose”; it is a textbook example of a [local matter](https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R44104.pdf). While Trump’s executive order is dutifully sprinkled with references to protecting federal property and functions, many officers are being deployed far from any federal property. Fortunately, the president’s authority to draft the MPD into service ended on September 10. As for Trump’s use of National Guard forces, it violates a centuries-old principle against military involvement in domestic law enforcement. This principle is a critical protection for both individual liberty and democracy, as an army turned inward can be a powerful instrument of oppression. Unfortunately, the law that enshrines this principle—the Posse Comitatus Act—is [riddled with loopholes](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/limiting-militarys-role-law-enforcement). But previous presidents have resisted the temptation to exploit them, and the law has served as a powerful norm notwithstanding its weaknesses. By populating D.C.’s street corners with soldiers, Trump is shredding that vital norm. Now, Trump [is threatening](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/J4qy5m2Vm98) to follow a similar playbook in other blue cities. As a legal matter, the president doesn’t have the same authority to commandeer local police in those jurisdictions, nor does he command Guard forces by default in the states as he does in D.C. Moreover, it would [violate the Constitution](https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/section-502%28f%29-is-not-a-blank-check) for governors to send their Guard forces into another state without the consent of its governor. The D.C. legal playbook simply isn’t available to Trump outside the district. As we saw in June, however—when [Trump federalized the California National Guard](https://time.com/7292305/la-protests-national-guard-crackdown-essay/) in response to protests in Los Angeles—there are other legal authorities the president can try to leverage. A federal judge [recently held](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-judge-blocks-trump-using-troops-fight-crime-california-2025-09-03/) that the military’s actions in Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act, but that decision, which the administration has appealed, is not binding in other jurisdictions. And if governors cooperate with Trump to deploy Guard forces within their own state, as could happen in Memphis and New Orleans, many of the legal barriers to deployment fall away—even though the concerns about using soldiers to police Americans remain. ## The choice we face If we normalize what has happened in D.C. through acquiescence, we will have quietly conceded our democracy and our freedoms. One by one, major cities could become places where Americans are afraid to walk the streets for fear they will encounter masked federal agents spoiling for a fight. And the next pretext might not be crime; it might be supposed [voter fraud](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-lead-movement-end-mail-voting/story?id=124737903), a phenomenon that is [statistically almost non-existent](https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/myth-voter-fraud). Federal deployment in such a scenario, if not stopped, could do incalculable damage to free and fair elections. We should demand a strong response from Congress and the courts, but we can’t rely on them. Conservative members of Congress, at least for now, have largely supported Trump’s D.C. takeover. And courts often [conclude](https://review.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/05/Bradley-Posner-75-Stan.-L.-Rev.-1031.pdf#page=27) that they cannot resolve legal questions arising from the use of emergency powers. The Trump Administration, however, is [not immune from public pressure](https://www.vox.com/politics/413738/trump-polls-public-opinion-backlash). Overwhelming public opposition—peacefully expressed; political violence can never save a democracy, it can only undermine it—would make a difference. That opposition must be loud, it must be bipartisan, and it must happen now. [TIME Ideas](https://www.time.com/ideas) hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. 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