President Donald Trump has taken control of Washington DC’s police force and sent National Guard troops to the streets. This marks the first time a president has ever taken over a city’s police department like this. The move happened in August 2025, putting the police under Attorney General Pam Bondi’s control for up to 30 days while over 2,200 National Guard soldiers patrol the city.
The Washington DC operation has led to more than 1,600 arrests since mid-August. Federal officials say crime numbers are going down, though violent crime in DC had already hit 30-year lows in 2024. The troops come from six states whose governors agreed to help, while several Democratic governors have said no to similar offers for their cities.
By saying no to Trump’s offers to help their cities, Democratic leaders in Illinois, California, New York and other blue states are telling their people they care more about criminals than the people they represent. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker told Trump “Do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here” when the president wanted to send federal help. California Governor Gavin Newsom said Trump was using the military as a “private army” and took the federal government to court over National Guard use.
The political fight looks like 1988 all over again
What’s happening now looks a lot like the winning Republican plan from the 1988 presidential race when George HW Bush beat Michael Dukakis by making Democrats look weak on crime. Bush’s team used the Willie Horton case. Horton was a convicted killer who committed violent crimes while on weekend leave from a Massachusetts prison when Dukakis was governor. The famous campaign ad ended with “Weekend prison passes – Dukakis on crime.”
Campaign boss Lee Atwater said “By the time we’re finished, they’re going to wonder whether Willie Horton is Dukakis’s running mate.” The plan worked perfectly, helping Bush win 426 Electoral College votes to Dukakis’s 111. The 1988 election taught Democrats they needed to look tough on crime, leading to what experts call Trump’s plan to trap Democrats into defending bad policies.
The 1994 law put nearly $10 billion toward building prisons and added 100,000 police officers. It said people with three strikes got life in prison and created federal death penalty rules. While the bill included the Violence Against Women Act, it also led to mass imprisonment that hurt Black Americans the most through things like mandatory minimum sentences and rewards for states to adopt tough sentencing laws.
Today’s Democratic ideas look like past mistakes. Many Democratic leaders now back cashless bail policies that let repeat criminals avoid jail time. Some, like California Governor Gavin Newsom, have talked about closing prisons completely. When asked about getting rid of prisons in 2020, former New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani said “I think that frankly – what purpose do they serve?” Trump has fought back by going after cashless bail with executive orders that threaten to cut federal money from places that keep such policies.
Republican leaders say these policies don’t work. Trump has attacked cashless bail, saying “every place in the country where you have no cash bail is a disaster.” New polls show 67% of Americans think crime is a major problem, including 81% who see it as a big worry in cities. The political basics suggest Trump may pull off the same trick as 1988, making Republicans the party of law and order while painting Democrats as caring more about criminal rights than keeping people safe.
Published: Sep 23, 2025 05:40 pm