Monday morning, President Trump announced plans to federalize the DC National Guard, citing a “dangerous crime wave” in the capital. But before he could complete the press conference — journalists, politicians and data analysts were contrasting his rationale for doing so, pointing out how even the FBI’s latest crime statistics do not support his claims.

“It’s embarrassing for me to be up here,” Trump said in the White House press room. “You know, I’m gonna see Putin — I’m going to Russia on Friday. I don’t like being up here talking about how unsafe and how dirty and disgusting this once-beautiful capital was.

He pointed to two unrelated incidents: A chaotic brawl in Cincinnati involving six Black men and a white man shouting the N-word slur. Trump’s other piece of anecdotal evidence was the violent and bloody attempted carjacking of a 19-year-old Department of Government Efficiency staffer in DC. Trump quickly addressed this instance via a Truth Social post, calling for the Law in DC to be “changed to prosecute minors as adults… starting as young as age 14.”

But FBI statistics depict that violent crime dropped 4.5 percent nationwide in 2024, murders fell nearly 15 percent and DC just saw its lowest crime rates in 30 years — a clear contradiction to Trump’s “crime wave” narrative.

However, this isn’t the first time Trump fear-mongered crime as justification for military or police crackdowns in Democratic-led cities — and according to his own admission, it won’t be the last. During the Monday press conference, he singled out Baltimore, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, referring to Democratic-run urban areas that suffer from high crime rates.

In early June, his administration sent nearly 5,000 federal troops to Southern California over Anti-ICE demonstrations.

“We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor have placed on this country,” Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem said while in Los Angeles.

D-CA Gov. Gavin Newsom objected, which prompted Trump to suggest Border Czar, Tom Homan, should arrest him. In fact, the trial regarding that case of federal overreach began Monday as well — the same day as the Washington DC announcement, which he called “Liberation Day.”

D-DC Mayor Muriel Bowser described Trump’s order as “unsettling and unprecedented,” in a broadcasted response to Trump’s federal takeover of her city’s police department, adding, “I can’t say we’re totally surprised.”

“I think I speak for all Americans,” she said. “We don’t believe it’s legal to use the American military against American citizens on American soil.”

The Trump administration blatantly disregards the simple fact that: a presence of crime and homelessness does not call for military force — it calls for systemic assistance. Federalizing the National Guard despite objections of said state or city’s sitting lawmakers is not adequate intervention.

It’s a violation of states’ rights as they’re outlined in the Constitution.

As Jess Piper, who once ran for state representative in Missouri, wrote on Bluesky:

“Doesn’t deploy federal troops to stop a Capital invasion or save children from a Texas flood or clean up debris from a StL tornado. Deployed federal troops to disperse people in sleeping bags. Got it.”