It only takes a few metro stops to switch from one world to another. As if there were two capitals in the capital. One of a postcard, solemn and ripolinated for cameras around the world. The dome of the capitol resplendent under the August sun, the lawns of the National Mall – the best -maintained lawn in the country -, the tourist coaches pouring their disciplined flow in front of the free museums of the Smithsonian Institution. The other, barely 5 kilometers, in the East districts of Washington, with regard to no man’s landwith its deals in broad daylight in the shade of Woke frescoes, where the tents are piled up on the sidewalks, where the syringes litter the gutters and where the night shootings dictate the rhythm of life.
It is in this other Washington, that of the districts of Southeast, Benning Road or Anacostia, that Donald Trump decided to send the National Guard. Eight hundred men and women who came to secure “Our capital invaded by violent gangs and criminals thirsty for blood”according to his own words.
Khaki trellis are already there. On the outskirts of the monuments, in the tourist arteries, near the metro stations, they patrol, silent, rifle in shoulder. Officially, it is a question of supporting the police in front of a “Galloping crime”. Donald Trump, who wants “Clean the capital”advance his figures: “The Homicide rate in Washington is today higher than that of Bogota, or Mexico! »»
Statistics do not contradict it: with a rate of 17 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, Washington slightly ahead of the Colombian capital and turns out to be eight times more deadly than Paris. Donald Trump pushes the nail, faithful to his style: “It has become a situation of complete and total anarchy, and we are going to get rid of the slums. »»
In the forgotten neighborhoods, east of the Anacostia river, the speech passes
Local authorities are strangling. Democrat mayor Muriel Bowser denounces a political operation, an authoritarian chin. But on the ground, among those who live there, in these forgotten districts, east of the Anacostia river, the speech passes. Here, the emergencies run in a loop, the overdoses are linked, the police no longer go without reinforcement.
Admittedly, federal statistics also indicate a drop in violent crime in Washington in 2024, at its lowest level in thirty years. But the reality is more contrasted. In working -class neighborhoods, the feeling of insecurity is omnipresent. Residents do not need Excel curves. They count the balls, to the rhythm of the sirens.
This weariness is found in many residents, black, Hispanic or white downgraded, far from stereotypes on Trumpist support. They do not sleep in the think tanks of the trendy district of Georgetown, nor in the opted offices of Foggy Bottom NGOs. They live in this Washington with dilapidated little pavilions, aggressions, detritus and swarming rats.
The presence of the National Guard is exceptional but not illegal. This reserve body is one of the American armed forces. Its members are “Citizens Soldats”punctually mobilized in the event of public order disorders or natural disaster. The rest of the time, they lead a civil life: deliverers, teachers, workers or civil servants. Unlike the active army, it is mobilized by the governors of the States … except in the capital. Because Washington is not precisely a state and depends on the federal power.
Already, in June, Donald Trump had mobilized the National Guard in Los Angeles, against the opinion of Governor Gavin Newsom, to disperse demonstrations against the actions of the ICE, the federal immigration police. Today it applies the same method to the capital with more prerogatives.
This is not the first time that soldiers have patrolled the American streets. In 1992, during the riots and looting of Los Angeles following the acquittal of police officers accused of having passed tobacco Rodney King, a black man, the National Guard had been massively deployed in the Californian megalopolis. In 2020, during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, entire units had been mobilized in around thirty states.
Test balloon
In the capital as in San Francisco, Portland or Chicago, local authorities have long favored prevention, reduction of sentences, decriminalization. Result: districts left to themselves, police officers demoralized by growing impunity, and silent exasperation. Donald Trump only exploits this void.
And he doesn’t do it by chance. Washington is a test ball. In his viewfinder, several major democratic cities where crucial municipal elections will take place by the end of the year: New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, Cincinnati to name only these progressive bastions which he abhorred. Everywhere, the most visible applications come from the radical left, dubbed by militant networks from Black Lives Matter and the circles that want to abolish the police. A boon for Donald Trump, who intends to nationalize these elections and make them so many referendums on authority.
He said it bluntly: he will personally get involved in the campaign in New York, his hometown, whom he judges “Delivered to madmen” Since the Bill de Blasio era. No question of letting democrats install autonomous mini-zones, militant prosecutors or massive decriminalization policies. The message is clear: if he can do it in Washington, he can do it elsewhere.
