Trump will let DC federalization expire

When Donald Trump first federalized DC, Democrats had a fit.

With things going so well, Trump initially stated that he was going to have Congress extend it for him.

Now, he has backed off, allowing the federalization to expire, which will put Mayor Bowser on the spot.

Extending It

In mid-August, Trump sounded positive that this was going to get extended.

He stated, "I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously.”

Since then, Trump has been touting low crime numbers, and he even took a handful of cabinet members out to dinner on the town, something that Trump, as far as I know, never did during his first term, other than the restaurant at his hotel in DC.

Trump touted DC as virtually no crime, which was not true, but the results were impressive, nonetheless.

It Worked

I am sure the media and most Democrats will say the differences were marginal, but this made a significant difference in that city.

Assaults are down by about 20%, burglaries are down by nearly 50%, Homicides are down by more than 50%, and it goes on and on.

In fact, even Mayor Bowser noted that carjackings had dropped by 87% since the federalization of the city.

The kicker in all of this is that violent crime is down by nearly 50% overall, and Democrats are still attacking Trump.

Your Turn

Donald Trump has taken a lot of hits on this, so he decided to let the federalization expire without a request to Congress. This now means that the troops and extra federal officers are removed unless Mayor Bowser requests assistance.

If not, she loses the assets, and it will be up to the Metropolitan PD to keep this up.

Bowser is a savvy politician, and she knows what happens if crime soars after the feds leave, so, according to the White House, she has already committed to keeping those federal assets in place. The White House stated, "She committed to indefinitely coordinate with federal law enforcement. The keyword is 'indefinitely.' That is what we want."

I have to admit, I love seeing this cooperation, and I think it is a huge win for both sides. This is what we want to see from cities like Chicago and Detroit, but they were posturing and throwing rhetoric around. I am very curious to see which cities step up next to ask for help. This could be a game-changer for this administration.