Donald Trump has announced that he plans to personally join police officers and National Guard troops as they patrol the streets of Washington, D.C., this Thursday. This move is part of his larger effort to show a strong stance on crime in the city, which he and other Republican leaders have repeatedly criticized as being poorly managed under Democratic leadership. Trump said in an interview with Todd Starnes from Newsmax that he will be out with both the police and the military to “do a job,” making it clear that he wants to be directly involved in this operation.
The deployment began last week when Trump ordered hundreds of National Guard members into Washington, saying it was necessary to crack down on crime. Since then, around 800 troops from the D.C. National Guard have been mobilized, and additional reinforcements—about 1,200 more troops—are being sent from Republican-led states, including Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. These states have rallied behind Trump’s call for what he portrays as a mission to restore order in the capital.
This comes amid growing political tension over the way Washington is run. Many Republican politicians argue that the city has become unsafe, citing crime, homelessness, and financial mismanagement as major problems. However, local police data shows that violent crime has actually gone down between 2023 and 2024. While this decline followed a period of higher crime rates after the pandemic, the numbers still suggest that the situation may not be as severe as Trump and his supporters claim.
Trump’s decision to join the patrols is also symbolic, showing him as a president who is willing to be on the ground, physically present with law enforcement and the military. It is unusual for a sitting president to take such a direct role in street-level operations, but Trump has often portrayed himself as a law-and-order leader who wants to take strong action where he believes others have failed.
In addition to deploying troops, Trump has attempted to assert more control over Washington’s local police department. Reports have surfaced that he tried to sideline its leadership at one point, seeking to take fuller command of local law enforcement as part of his broader plan to reshape the city’s approach to crime and security.
This is not the first time Trump has sent troops into major U.S. cities during his second term. Earlier, he dispatched the National Guard and even Marines to Los Angeles to handle unrest that followed aggressive immigration raids, a move that sparked both support and backlash across the country.
For many, this latest action raises questions about how far a president should go in using federal troops for local matters, especially in a city that already has a complex political status as a federal district rather than a state. While Trump insists he is acting to make the streets safer, critics see this as another example of overreach and a way to challenge Democratic control in the capital.
The patrol is set to take place amid heightened political division, with Trump supporters praising his tough approach and opponents warning that such measures could create more tension rather than solving the problems he claims to address.
