Yes, we know. There really is violent crime in Washington, D.C. To put things in saner perspective, however, Harold Meyerson reports that “The GOP States With Guards Deployed to D.C. Have Urban Murder Rates Way Higher Than D.C.’s” at The American Prospect.
As Meyerson explains, “As the governors of South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee have now all proclaimed, crime is out of control in the nation’s capital—so sayeth Trump and hence it must be true—so they’re sending in their states’ troopers…The irony here is that crime rates in the cities of their own states are markedly higher than they are in D.C. The murder rate in Washington, D.C., last year was 17 for every 100,000 residents…The actual numbers, to state this gently, aren’t reflected in these governors’ pronunciamentos.”
Meyerson, adds, “In the past 24 hours, Mississippi’s Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said he’d send 200 Mississippi Guards to D.C. because “Americans deserve a safe capital city that we can all be proud of.”…In 2024, Mississippi’s own state capital, Jackson, had the highest murder rate of any American city: 77 per 100,000, which was more than four times that in Washington, D.C…Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry said he’d send the state’s National Guard to D.C., proclaiming, “I am proud to support this mission to return safety and sanity to Washington.”
Further, “In 2024, Louisiana’s own state capital, Baton Rouge (whose U.S. House member is Speaker Mike Johnson), had a murder rate of 36 per 100,000, twice that of Washington, D.C. New Orleans had a murder rate of 31 per 100,000.” Same problem for Republican governors of Tennessee, South Carolina, West Virginia and Ohio.”
Heather Cox Richardson also comments on the performative folly behind Trump’s sending military forces into Washington, D.C.: “A map of where the troops have been seen in the nation’s capital makes it very clear they are not really there to combat crime. They are stationed in areas where they are mostly likely to be seen and to make a statement, especially around the White House and the national monuments on the National Mall. Many of them are simply standing around. They are there to demonstrate Trump’s control of the seat of government in the United States of America with an eye to convincing Americans he controls the government itself.”
Cox Richardon explains, “MAGA Republican governors are rushing to be part of the demonstration of the MAGA takeover of the country’s government, sending their state’s National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. This, too, has little to do with actual crime. Ohio, South Carolina, and West Virginia committed troops over the past few days, but as journalist Philip Bump noted, there are 43 cities in those states that have higher crime rates than Washington, D.C., does.”
Also, “Today, the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee committed National Guard personnel to Trump’s crackdown in Washington, D.C…The White House seems determined to provoke confrontations: after the Army said National Guard troops would neither carry weapons nor have weapons in their vehicles, the White House said in a statement on Saturday that National Guard troops “may be armed, consistent with their mission and training, to protect federal assets, provide a safe environment for law enforcement officers to make arrests, and deter violent crime with a visible law enforcement presence.”
Add to the context Trump’s shameful pardon of the Jan. 6 rioters. The hypocrisy of Trump and his GOP governors is stunning. There is no word yet on how much all of this military deployment drama is going to cost. But it’s pretty clear taxpayers are going to pay for it.
