There’s no doubt that there are many cities in the US that need a new plan to deal with poverty, crime and homelessness. Washington DC appears to be one of those cities. But, the reality is that everything the Trump administration is doing will only make matters worse. Federalizing DC is a results driven approach that ignores constitutional rights and legitimate law and will do immeasurable damage to the principles that our nation is founded upon. Not to mention the fact that it is fundamentally unworkable at face value.
Beginning with homelessness, the first real problem is the brazenly unconstitutional SCOTUS ruling allowing cities to arrest people for being homeless. While independence is a constitutional right, some say having an income is not. Thereafter, if the economy doesn’t support everyone who needs a living wage, they become homeless.
The SCOTUS ruling presupposes that all homeless people are necessarily criminals or incompetent imbeciles, and therefore have no right to basic independence. That is not, and never has been the reality. You could argue it’s merely a matter of venue and responsible homeless people can simply go somewhere else to independently attain the resources needed to live. That isn’t the case either, however, as homelessness is prevalent in every US City.
Most homelessness and crime results from the irresponsible, cutthroat, greedy economic policy that prioritizes the profits of business over the constitutional rights and fundamental well being of people. The Big Blunder Bill recently passed by the Trump administration is the very definition of such economic policy. Trump’s answer is to arbitrarily put people in jail, drive people into criminal ventures, enforce housing that is de facto false imprisonment, or enforce “greyhound therapy” which is a type of “transportation” and therefore also false imprisonment.
While there might be a case for construction of a new dance hall on White House grounds, flaunting a luxury project costing 100’s of millions of dollars while imposing economic constraints and denying benefits for people in need demonstrates a crass indifference and lack of concern for the people they are victimizing and injuring. Some will say its just a way to chastise and goad the homeless and others to get with it. The real world just doesn’t work that way. The racism and classism being exhibited by the Trump administration is just as crass and indifferent as it seems at face value.
Noticing that Trump continues to use the jargon of a war general saying things like “we’re taking back our city” etc. isn’t just political theater as suggested by some. In a war, theater basically refers to the battlefield. Trump is literally fighting a war and taking ground for his regime. There are rules for use of the National guard, and for now it appears those rules are being followed. That notwithstanding, by federalizing the government of DC, and with the abdication of authority by congress, Trump has literally taken an American city by force and he is now the de facto dictator of Washington, DC.
It should not be overlooked that Trump regime deputies have given the go ahead to the National Guard of the other states to also impose on municipal jurisdictions in a similar manner. While there are limits as to their legal function, he can do this if he so chooses and in fact he can take charge of municipal governments in other limited roundabout ways as well.
Many also noted Trump’s talk this morning had a permissive undertow for the unconstitutional enforcement of eugenics. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and at some point, what looks like, acts like, and already talks like a dictator actually becomes a neo-Nazi dictator – exactly the same thing as Adolf Hitler.
Furthering what is already an insurrection would only require law enforcement, national guard, and military commanders who are willing to remain loyal to the whims of their commander-in-chief. Not only is this not far-fetched, but in some ways it is already occurring and there’s certainly no doubt that in states like Alabama, the majority of uniformed responders would follow Trump into a full overthrow of the constitution and US government.
Trump needs the midterms very badly for his regime to survive and so it’s not hard to imagine scenarios being facilitated by today’s occupation of DC that would result in rigging or even bypassing midterm elections altogether, or even the next full cycle election for that matter. These are continuing themes in the world history that repeats itself and not nearly as implausible as many people might like to say.
I’ll say it again. Trump is extremely dangerous and Congress should immediately begin proceedings to impeach and remove him from office.
©2025 – Jim Porter Casey
