The news that a staff member of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency was assaulted and bloodied by a group of would-be carjackers early Sunday morning is yet another reminder that the Washington, D.C., government’s refusal to clean up the district’s crime problem is a national embarrassment.
On Tuesday, following the brutal beating of Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, President Donald Trump threatened to end D.C.’s home rule if the district does not take meaningful steps to address its crime problem.
“Washington, D.C., must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the World to see,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore. Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers and FEDERALIZE this City.”
Coristine’s assault is hardly the first time a prominent individual has been a victim of a carjacking in the district. Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and Angie Craig (D-MN) were both accosted by would-be carjackers in 2023.
The road to the current chaos in D.C. is solely the responsibility of the Council of the District of Columbia, which has an inglorious history of being soft on crime. Carjackings, in particular, became such a problem that the district began distributing AirTags so victims could find their cars.
In 2022, the City Council passed the Revised Criminal Code Act, which eliminated mandatory minimums for most crimes, including carjackings. The revision was passed over Mayor Muriel Bowser’s veto and proved so extreme that even Democrats in Congress voted for a repeal of the act, which was ultimately signed by then-President Joe Biden, the first repudiation of D.C. home rule in decades.
D.C. exists because the Constitution specifically called for a federal district to be the seat of the federal government so that no state would have an outsize influence on the federal government. To that end, Trump is absolutely right to suggest that the federal government can take control of the district. In fact, prior to the 1973 passage of the D.C. Home Rule Act, the district was governed exclusively by presidential appointees.
FLORIDA’S IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT MODEL
There is no reason that visitors and residents of the capital city of the world’s most powerful nation should walk the streets in fear of being attacked. The City Council, Bowser, and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb have a duty to the district and the nation to ensure that Washington, D.C., is a safe place that showcases the best parts of the United States. So far, they have failed.
Trump’s threat to federalize the district is a warning to D.C. officials to get their act together. If they refuse, Congress should step in and end the failed experiment of home rule.
