President Donald Trump said he may tackle crime in other cities after DC, and left-wing local leaders can’t stand it. The elite Democrats in power in cities like New York, Chicago, and Baltimore are scrambling to find ways to keep Trump at bay and convince America that crime isn’t nearly as bad in their own backyards as the president makes it seem. But crime really is out of control in these locales, and the federal efforts in Washington, DC, really do seem to be making a difference.
The Trump Effect Nationwide
During a Friday, August 22, announcement – regarding the FIFA World Cup, of all things – the president declared his work in the nation’s capital a success so far, then added: “After we do this, we’ll go to another location and make it safe also. We’re going to make our country very safe; we’re going to make our cities very, very safe. Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor – grossly incompetent – and we’ll straighten that one out probably next.” He went on to add New York to the list. Then, on Sunday, August 24, Trump told Maryland Governor Wes Moore to “clean up this crime disaster” in Baltimore. This after Governor Moore invited the president to the city a week earlier.
The leaders who run these cities and states, however, aren’t a fan of the idea.
“While the President is spending his time from the Oval Office making jabs and attacks at us, there are people actually on the ground doing the work who know what supports would actually work to continue to bring down crime. But it’s falling on deaf ears of the president of the United States,” Moore said.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott also doesn’t want the National Guard in town. “We know that the National Guard is not the way,” Scott told a local news anchor on Thursday night. “That’s not what those soldiers signed up to do.” He is, however, open to more federal law enforcement resources in his town – including more federal agents to work with his local police.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also spoke out against the idea of “occupying our cities with the military,” saying, “The guard is not needed.” In a statement on Friday, the mayor called Trump’s approach “uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound.”
And in the Big Apple, Mayor Eric Adams said simply: “Hell no. That cannot happen.”
Each local leader argued much the same things: Trump’s deployment of the National Guard exceeds his authority and is unconstitutional, it won’t help, and crime is on the decline anyway. But what’s the reality?
A Numbers Game
Rhetoric aside, it’s time for a look at the numbers. First, has the federalization of DC been effective? To put it simply, yes. Using the crime statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department itself, one can track the progress. Over the 14-day period from August 11 through August 23, total crime had dropped about 21% from the two-week period directly before. Violent crime was down 33%, homicides and assaults with deadly weapons decreased by 25%, and robbery decreased 47%.
The local leaders in DC like to say – like the progressives in power in the other cities under Trump’s gaze – that crime was already on the decline from the previous year. Recall that Mayor Muriel Bowser had claimed crime was at a 30-year low? Well, let’s take a look. There were a total of 1,186 crimes reported by the Metro PD in the nation’s capital from July 28 through August 10 of this year. That’s 19 total crimes more – or 1.6% higher – than the same time period in 2024. By contrast, the 935 total crimes since the feds took over is 22.4% lower than the same span last year – an impressive 220 fewer total crimes. Was crime really at its lowest in three decades? There is a credibility issue with how local law enforcement has been reporting crimes, so maybe and maybe not. But even if it is true, that wouldn’t change the facts: It certainly seems crime was out of control in DC before August 11, that federal intervention was necessary, and that it is making a positive difference. But what about those other cities?
Chicago’s Mayor Johnson boasts a 30% and 35% reduction in homicides and robberies, respectively, in the past year. That certainly sounds like progress. Yet, according to the official statistics reported by his own police department, there’s still a lot of work to be done. The most recent data available in Chicago only goes to August 17. But in the two-weeks reaching back to August 3, the Windy City saw 20 homicides, 400 aggravated assaults, 162 sex offenses, and more than 1,000 car thefts, among thousands of other crimes. In total, Chicago police reported 14,050 serious crimes in 14 days.
New York City boasted back in June of how violent crime had hit record lows. “Today, the major announced an unprecedented achievement: the lowest number of shootings and homicides in recorded history over the first five months of the year,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on June 3. Again, that’s an impressive achievement that still falls far short of ideal. Crime in the Big Apple is reported by the week, and from August 11 to August 17 (the latest data available), there were eight homicides, 184 sex offenses, 583 assaults, 309 robberies, 317 auto thefts, and just shy of 3,000 counts of larceny. Year to date, NYC is up to 201 murders.
It’s the same story again in Baltimore. According to Maryland Governor Wes Moore, the city saw a 28% reduction in murder and a 19% drop in non-fatal shootings from the previous year. So where does that leave crime overall? Since the Trump administration took over DC’s law enforcement, Baltimore police reported a total of 1,772 serious crimes.
It seems that no matter the city, these densely populated blue bastions are rife with crime. Is it any wonder, then, that the president wants to step in? Imagine if the results in DC could be replicated in these other locales. There could be ten fewer assaults in Baltimore – or 1,000 fewer crimes in general in Chicago – every week! The local leaders may not think much of the plan, but that’s a lot of voting folks who might not fall victim to the criminals.
