Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser is of two minds when it comes to the surge of federal law enforcement and takeover of the local police in her city.
On the one hand, being a Democrat, she opposes the presence of National Guard troops.
“We know having masked ICE agents in the community has not worked, and National Guards from other states has not been an efficient use of those resources,” Bowser told a press conference.
What makes that statement so puzzling is that 30 seconds earlier, she praised the deployment for bringing down the crime rate.
“We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what MPD [Metropolitan Police Department] has been able to do in this city,” Bowser said at a press conference. “The difference between this 20-day period of this federal surge and last year represents an 87% reduction in carjackings.”
Say that again? An 87% drop in carjackings?
The data she was referring to also showed a 15% fall in crime overall in Washington during the same period last year.
So it's "working" unless it's "not working, right?
"We know that when carjackings go down, when use of guns goes down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer, so this surge has been important to us," said Bowser.
Several members of the city council were outraged that Boswer had a kind word to say about Trump and his actions in D.C.
"We should not, as the District of Columbia, be giving people the impression that this is a good thing, that we are OK with it, that it is helping the city. It is not doing any of those things," at-large Council member Robert White Jr., a Democrat, said in a video on X. "I am not OK with this. The average resident is not OK with this. D.C. residents, D.C. voters, are not OK with this."
I guess an 87% drop in carjackings over the same period last year, and a 15% drop in the overall crime rate, proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the surge in law enforcement assets has not worked, right?
Right?
DC is under siege by our own fed govt, w/ armed military patrolling our streets & masked agents scooping up neighbors & taking them away. Our residents are afraid, hesitant to go out & to work, angry that our limited autonomy is being eroded. There is nothing welcome about this. https://t.co/7a5IWkJgQg
— Brianne K. Nadeau (@BrianneKNadeau) August 27, 2025
Nadeau is the Ward 1 council member.
Why would Bowser go against her party and the Democratic Party establishment and praise Trump for anything, much less something that the rest of the party is calling "illegal" and "authoritarian"?
Trump has been playing "rope-a-dope" with Bowser since shortly after his second inauguration. While skewering her for some of her policies, he always manages to slip in a kind word or two about her personally.
“They have to stop issuing false crime numbers, because I heard the mayor – and I like the mayor fine. I don’t care if I like her or not. If she did her job,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting. “I wish she were a horrible person that did her job, but she’s probably nice, I guess. I don’t care. I want her to do her job, but they issue false numbers.”
Bowser called Trump on Wednesday afternoon and hinted at some of the reasons she and the president get along fairly well.
"I was reminded of our first meeting after his re-election, where we discussed shared priorities for the district," she said. "There, I was reminded that the president's interest in cities predates his time in office, and his knowledge of D.C. had significantly increased from the first time he was in the White House."
The mayor, who had a prominent crosswalk near the White House painted, "Black Lives Matter," is now talking about a hiring surge of police officers.
Bowser said the police department's ability to address crime in D.C. would be greatly enhanced if the department were able to hire at least 500 police over the next several years. Police Chief Pamela Smith also suggested at the news conference that the city has benefited from the federal task force formed to bring down crime and indicated it could be a solution in the long term “when we do see surges and spikes in crime.”
Bowser said that since the increase in federal law enforcement officers, there have been more stops that have resulted in the seizure of illegal guns and there has been more "accountability in the system" that "is driving down illegal behavior."
"We know that we have had fewer gun crimes, fewer homicides, and we have experienced an extreme reduction in carjackings," she said.
Bowser is no fool. She knows where the power lies in her city, and it isn't with Democrats on the city council or activists in the streets. Recognizing the reality of the drop in crime is the least she could do to avoid friction with Trump.
I doubt Democrats in other cities will be anywhere near as accommodating.
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