Trump Considers Federal Takeover of DC. Here’s Why That’s a Good Idea.
There is a very good case that Congress should end home rule for Washington and reclaim its authority to govern the city that was forfeited—some say unconstitutionally—in 1973.
The crime and dysfunction in Washington, D.C., is an embarrassment to the country. President Donald Trump rightly called out the problem at a press conference on Tuesday and offered a solution.
“We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to. We could run D.C. I mean, we’re … looking at D.C.,” Trump said. “Susie Wiles is working very closely with [Mayor Muriel Bowser].”
Wiles is the president’s chief of staff. What Trump said Tuesday is actually doubling down on comments he made earlier in the year.
“I think that we should govern District of Columbia,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One in late February, according to Reuters. “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.”
Trump’s talk of the federal government taking over Washington comes just more than a week after 21-year-old student Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was shot and killed at a Metro stop in Northwest Washington.
Tarpinian-Jachym had been an intern of Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kan.
“I will remember his kind heart and how he always greeted anyone who entered our…