Trump had sent the National Guard to Washington on August 11th and the local police of the US capital assumed the federal control. The right -wing populist Republican justified his approach with an allegedly out of control. So he said he wanted to preserve Washington from “crime, bloodshed, chaos, misery and worse”.
However, statistics show a significant decline in violent crimes between 2023 and 2024 in the capital, after an increase during corona pandemic. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser emphasized that crime was at a 30-year low.
Critics accuse Trump right -wing populist sharpening – and an attempt to expand his power and control cities ruled by Democrats.
On Friday, the President particularly targeted the Chicago ruled by the Democrat Brandon Johnson. The big city in the north of the United States is a “mess” and is ruled by a “highly incompetent” mayor, said Trump, who wore a red cap with the inscription “Trump was right in everything”. The residents of the city in the state of Illinois would literally “scream” for the help of the government in Washington.
The governor of Illinois, the Democrat JB Pritzker, clearly rejected Trump’s statements. People would “no authoritarian appropriation” by the Trump government, Pritzker wrote in the short message service X. Trump wanted to “fear” to “fear” and “destabilize” existing measures in the fight against crime in order to “further abuse his power”.
Critics have denounced an increasingly authoritarian leadership style since Trump’s return to the White House in January and warn of the hollowing out democracy in the United States. Among other things, the question is how far Trump could use federal police, national guards and even soldiers in Germany for his political interests.
In Washington, more than 1900 members of the National Guard are now in use. They come from the capital itself and from the republican states of West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee.
On Friday, the US Department of Defense said that the national guards should “soon be used with their service weapons”. At the beginning of the use of the National Guard, it was said that “weapons are available if necessary”, but should stay in the guns.
In June, Trump had already mobilized the National Guard and Marine Fanter in Los Angeles to end protests against his immigration policy. It was the first time in 60 years that a US president sent the national guard against the will of the local authorities. The city of California and the state of California are ruled by the Democrats.
FS/JU
