Evidently keen on a sterling capital for his
proposed golden age, President Donald Trump issued an executive order Thursday establishing a task force of top federal agency members to crack down on crime and restore beauty in Washington, D.C.
“It is the policy of the United States to make the District of Columbia safe, beautiful, and prosperous by preventing crime, punishing criminals, preserving order, protecting our revered American monuments, and promoting beautification and the preservation of our history and heritage,” said the order.
The District is in dire need of such help.
According to Neighborhood Scout’s crime index where 100 is safest, D.C. scores a 2.
‘Americans are smart enough to notice.’
In 2023, the city, which then had a population of just under 679,000, suffered a 39% increase in violent crime — the
biggest violent crime spike in the country — and recorded more murders than in any year since 1997. The Washington Post noted that the victims ranged from babies to octogenarians.
While there was a drop in crime in D.C. last year, police data indicates the city still
saw 3,469 violent crimes, including at least 187 murders and 25,879 property crimes.
The White House’s fact sheet pertaining to Trump’s order
noted that “the left is touting modest decreases in D.C. crime in 2024, but they still represent a massive increase from earlier rates.”
“This mirrors the spin they tried to put on ‘decreases’ in the rate of inflation in recent years,” continued the White House fact sheet. “Inflation is still up — and so is crime. And Americans are smart enough to notice.”
The White House attributed the city’s problems with crime to failed Democratic policies, including drug decriminalization and the abandonment of “traditional” pre-trial detention, as well as to Biden prosecutors’ declination in recent years to prosecute alleged criminals and to the lack of accreditation for the D.C. crime lab.
The aptly named D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force is charged with boosting the presence of law enforcement officers in public areas; clearing the streets of unlawful protests; tackling vandalism and public drug use; and “maximiz[ing] enforcement of Federal immigration law and redirecting available Federal, State, or local law enforcement resources to apprehend and deport illegal aliens.”
In addition to keeping addicts, goons, and illegal aliens off the sidewalks and clear of public parks, Trump has directed this novel task force to reinforce the D.C. Police Department’s recruitment and retention efforts, as well as boost its overall capabilities; strengthen pre-trial detention policies in the District; crack down on crime on the D.C. Metro system; get the crime lab accredited; and help law-abiding citizens defend themselves by expediting concealed carry licenses.
Trump’s executive order also sets the stage for a city beautification project, which the fact sheet noted “includes restoring and beautifying federal buildings, monuments, statues, memorials, parks, and roadways, removing graffiti from commonly visited areas, and ensuring the cleanliness of public spaces and parks.”
‘It’s a very sad thing to see it.’
This initiative would apparently mean the return of statues “inappropriately removed or changed” during the
iconoclastic sweep that accompanied the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.
The rehabilitation of Washington’s beauty has long been a priority for Trump.
In August 2023, he
told reporters that it was “very sad driving through Washington, D.C., and seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti.”
“This is not the place that I left. It’s a very sad thing to see it,” added the president.
Last month, Trump suggested the federal government should govern the District, stating, “I think that we should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely, flawlessly beautiful, and I think we should take over Washington, D.C., make it safe,”
reported WRC-TV.
“I like the mayor. I get along great with the mayor. But they’re not doing the job,” continued the president. “Too much crime. Too much graffiti. Too many tents on the lawns — these magnificent lawns, and there’s tents. And, you know, it’s a sad thing.”
Earlier this month, Trump indicated that he notified Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser “that she must clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments in the City, specifically the ones outside of the State Department, and near the White House.”
“If she is not capable of doing so, we will be forced to do it for her!” Trump
wrote on Truth Social. “Washington, D.C. must become CLEAN and SAFE! We want to be proud of our Great Capital again.”
Bowser has since taken some actions to oblige the president,
removing the Black Lives Matter mural from 16th Street NW and clearing out various homeless encampments.
“As the capital city of the greatest Nation in the history of the world, it should showcase beautiful, clean, and safe public spaces,” Trump noted in his executive order.
The task force will include representatives from the Departments of Transportation, Homeland Security and the Interior, along with the FBI, the Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Representatives from the U.S. attorneys’ offices in D.C., Maryland, and the Eastern District of Virginia will also be involved.
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