Trump’s DC takeover nets 23 arrests on Day One
When Donald Trump gave his press conference that he was going to take over DC, some of the information that was used, to be perfectly honest, was old data.
Now, that is not to say that the new data is perfect, as we all know numbers are often tweaked, but using data from 2023 was not the wisest move.
Regardless, Trump ordered the federalization of the city, and so far, the operation is working, at least on the surface.
Debunked
The numbers that Trump was using during his press conference were from 2023.
Trump had stated, “The murder rate in Washington today is higher than that of Bogotá, Colombia, Mexico City, some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on Earth.” He continued, “We have DC: 41 per 100,000. No.1 that we can find anywhere in the world. Other cities are pretty bad, but they’re not as bad as that.”
The chart had 2023 data, as noted above, but his conclusion was not right either. At the time, DC was at least the 50th highest homicide rate. Not that that is something to brag about, but if you are going to go on TV to spout the data, get it right.
Homicides have gone down from 274 in 2023 to 187 in 2024. So far this year, there have been about 100 homicides in DC, which would put it on a pace for about 163 homicides this year. But the problem for DC is that the crimes that are taking place, such as the beating of the DOGE employee, are getting major headlines.
Stats are wrong
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is claiming that the police union head has his facts “wrong.”
Gregg Pemberton, chair of the DC Police Union, had claimed, “Crime in the District is out of control, and something needs to be done about it. This concept that crime is down is really an old trope.
“Our rank-and-file officers know that we’re going [from] call to call to call for armed carjacking, stabbings, robberies, shootings, homicides, and the crime isn’t going anywhere. And so, we welcome the assistance, and whether that’s federal agents or the National Guard, we’ll use it.”
Schwalb pushed back, “I think his talking points are wrong. We know what’s happening in our city. We have more work to do. We need to all work together to reduce crime to a zero number, but we are going in the right direction under local control, local policies and local leadership. And we need to stay the course.”
Sweeps result in 23 arrests
With the FBI now joining in on the fun, Director Patel noted that they had made 23 arrests in the first day of sweeps, including 10 of note, stating, "On the first big push of FBI supporting @POTUS @realDonaldTrump initiative to make DC safe again, FBI reported 10 arrests with partners.”
He continued, "These are just a few examples — we are just getting started. Federal partners joined local police and arrested 23 in total. When you let good cops be cops they can clean up our streets and do it fast. More to come. Your nation’s Capital WILL be safe again."
Now, I don’t want this to come off like I think DC is safe and everything is fine, as that is not the case. But I do want to say that with Trump making this order, he really should have had current information in front of him to justify the decision.
It makes everyone look like an amateur, and it only adds credence to Democrat claims that he wanted to take over the city, so he invented numbers to make that happen. Honestly, I don’t think he should have federalized the city, but instead offered federal help, which would have also given him an out. He is the hero by offering help rather than taking control of the city, leaving the ball in the Democrats’ court to accept the help or all the city to slip further into the hands of criminals. But now, every murder or crime that takes place will be put on Trump and counted as a failure by the Democrats and the media.
And I know there are some people reading this that are already calling me a RINO, but what I am really doing is thinking big picture. One of the latest rallying cries by Democrats is that Trump is an authoritarian, so how do you think it will play in the media when everyone figures out he was using stats that are two years old to justify the move? What looks better? Taking over a city on bogus numbers, or working as a partner with a Democrat mayor to clear up pockets of crime, as well as rounding up wanted criminals that the city does not have the assets to do on its own? Big picture, my friends… big picture.
