Where have all the Jeffrey Epstein files gone, long time passing? Being slowly handed to the House Oversight Committee, but not made public, so the details of Donald Trump’s connection with Epstein will stay a mystery. Don’t expect the Justice Department files to help. Trust Attorney General Pam Bondi not to release embarrassing information to Trump. Don’t rely on Ghislaine Maxwell either. She may have promised silence in exchange for a country club prison and possibly a pardon. With Epstein’s DOJ records being released to Congress, this is good timing for a diversion. Put troops on American streets; make war on America itself, and maybe Americans will look the other way.
The administration has ordered the American military to police Americans. Trump’s troop deployment in Washington, D.C., the administration says, is because crime is out of control. But the president’s executive action is incontestably pretextual. Crime in Washington, D.C. has been trending downward for decades, and violent crime, according to the Department of Justice’s figures, is at a 30-year low, so low that Trump has ordered Bondi to investigate the statisticians in her own department for “manipulation.” Those who live in Washington tell me that while certain crime rates are decreasing, overall numbers are unacceptably high. And everyone I know who lives in D.C. says there is inadequate law enforcement and punishment. But these are not problems that can be solved by federalizing the police or putting an ill-trained guardsman on every corner. Crime, thankfully, is trending down in many cities, and Washington’s not immune to the downturn.
Beyond Epstein, Trump’s political woes are many. He must be worried about the economy, stupid. Inflation isn’t dead. Beset by high interest rates and tariff chaos, economists say we are sailing directly into choppy waters.
Trump’s immigration roundups, even if temporarily approved by a docile Supreme Court, may eventually be seen as inhumane just as his family separation policies during his first term shifted public opinion.
The Anchorage, Alaska, Summit with Vladimir Putin was an Arctic Munich. More than one pundit called it a “half-baked Alaska.” Trump is said to be moving at “warp speed” to make a peace deal, but it’s unlikely to lead to lasting peace. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Trump was given the choice “between war and dishonor.” He chose dishonor, and he will likely lose the peace. Whatever security guarantees are offered Ukraine, Putin will have gained territory through aggression, just as Josef Stalin did in 1956 when Russian tanks rolled into Budapest.
I have always believed the policy of the United States was not to reward aggression. Our allies understand this. At a recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized that international borders should not be altered by force. She described Ukraine as “a steel porcupine, indigestible for potential invaders.” French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that Ukraine’s borders must be respected and that “if we show weakness today in front of Russia, we are laying the ground for future conflict.”
Obsessed with strength, Trump has revealed only weakness. In foreign policy, it is well understood that when you trade land for peace, you lose both. As President Lyndon B. Johnson stated, “Aggression—deliberate, willful and systematic aggression—has unmasked its face to the entire world. The world remembers, the world must never forget, that aggression unchallenged is aggression unleashed.” Johnson added: “We of the United States have not forgotten.” Granted, LBJ said this about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which led to a painfully mistaken war. Still, it did not detract from the even more painful lesson of Neville Chamberlain’s Munich appeasement.
Still, Trump has forgotten. And, rest assured, Putin will regroup and test us again.
Trump spoke of security guarantees at the White House summit with Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders. In the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, we gave territorial guarantees to Ukraine to persuade it to give up its nukes. The Ukrainians gave up the third-largest nuclear arsenal, and you know the rest. Ironically, a possible site for a trilateral meeting among Putin, Trump, and Zelensky is Budapest as Hungary has come to resemble Russia. Trump may think he is going to heaven for this one. That’s up to a higher authority. But here on earth there’s unlikely to be a Nobel Peace Prize for this one.
It’s out there for all to see. Trump’s net approvals (approvals less disapprovals) are at a Trump 2.0 low of minus 12. He would benefit from a diversion.
For starters, have the federal government federalize the D.C. Police Department in probable violation of the Home Rule Act, which only gives him 30 days control anyway. The Metropolitan Police Department couldn’t adequately handle a furious mob of MAGA supporters, forcing legislators to run for their lives or hide. Not enough—let’s declare something that eerily resembles martial law, even if it isn’t officially declared. Let’s give the woke wusses a taste of Trump troops, with armed soldiers guarding Cafe Milano.
According to the Washington Post, the wife of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller tells the tall tale that for years she hasn’t been able to bring her children “to museums and monuments without fear of being shot or carjacked.” Anecdotal nonsense! Who wants to visit a museum in Washington anyway? Trump officials will have cleared out all the best exhibits.
At Trump’s request, the Republican governors of West Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio said they would send D.C. additional National Guard troops to shore up the takeover of a Democratic city—the more the merrier. If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere. Trump will do what Putin did, first in Georgia, then in Belarus, the Crimea, then in Ukraine, and Moldova may be next, even Poland. Trump can do it too. Start with D.C., then shift to Chicago, New York, or Oakland.
Philip Bump wrote that deploying the forces has little to do with crime rates. He revealed that 43 cities in the states sending troops to Washington, D.C., have higher rates of violent crime than the capital does.
Trump is within his rights on the National Guard, but he reminds us to inquire why he didn’t call it out on January 6, 2021, to stop the Capitol siege. Instead, he blamed Nancy Pelosi, and when he got into office again, pardoned the convicts.
Are the troops there to combat crime? Maps show they are often stationed in crime-free public areas where they display force, such as the White House and the Washington Monument. From Juan Peron to Stalin to Hitler, troops surround the dictator. Here, they underscore Trump’s autocratic grip on the government.
Is Trump’s action in Washington a dry run for a federal takeover in Democratic-led cities across the country? I have great fears about where we are headed.
The post Trump’s Troop Deployment: Why It’s Both Ominous and Stupid appeared first on Washington Monthly.
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