Convicted felon Donald Trump is once again overriding local governance and wasting thousands of taxpayers’ dollars by announcing federal control over local law enforcement and deploying the National Guard for his political ends. 

Reminder: Crime increased during Trump’s first term, fell during the Biden Administration, and D.C’s crime rate is currently at a multi-decade low. 

In response, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:

“Donald Trump’s record as president is marked by gross abuses of power, and his latest move to supersede local law enforcement by deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C. is no exception. Trump is once again playing political games using service members and federal law enforcement officials. Trump doesn’t give a damn about keeping D.C. residents safe. When rioters violently stormed the Capitol and there were repeated requests for the National Guard, Trump failed to act. To add insult to injury, he pardoned 1,500 insurrectionists, some of whom violently assaulted police officers

“Now, Trump is ripping National Guard members away from their jobs and families to act as political pawns. Trump is a liar, a fraud, and a convicted felon who manufactures chaos and stokes fear in order to consolidate power. Trump’s continued misuse of the National Guard is nothing more than that of a feeble, weak old man desperate to show a sense of strength as he runs the country into the ground, protects sex traffickers, and destroys the American economy. If Trump really wanted to keep people safe, he’d help communities create jobs instead of destroying small businesses, make life more affordable instead of raising costs on families, and let local law enforcement do their job.”

This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to use the military to intimidate communities and waste resources. Trump already called up the National Guard early into his second term to serve as a law enforcement force and quell protests in California, in a direct rejection of the authority of Governor Gavin Newsom. Under federal law, National Guard troops are unable to make arrests unless Trump invokes the Insurrection Act. 

After Trump sent the National Guard to Los Angeles — costing an estimated $134 million in taxpayer dollars — troops were forced to sleep on the floor without food or water.