Despite polls showing his takeover of the D.C. Metropolitan Police and deployment of federal forces are deeply unpopular, President Donald Trump is now threatening to escalate, vowing a “complete and total” occupation of the District of Columbia.
In addition to taking over the Metropolitan Police, Trump has deployed thousands of National Guard troops, ICE, DEA, FBI, and DHS agents to patrol the city’s streets, often in areas with little to no crime.
Restaurant bookings dropped by double digits, and experts warn the current takeover is already hurting local businesses, CNN reported.
“Despite Trump’s claim earlier this week that DC restaurants have been ‘busier than they’ve been in a long time,’ reservations tracked by OpenTable have been down recently. On August 11, when Trump announced the takeover, seated diners dropped 16% compared to a year ago. Two days later, when troops mobilized around the city, seated diners fell 31% compared to a year ago.”
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“If there’s a perception that DC is turning into a police state, then there’s going to be some hesitancy to go out and explore the city,” Adam Kamins, director of regional economics at Moody’s, told CNN. “That would be true of visitors from overseas but also of local residents who just want to steer clear of all of this.”
As Restaurant Week kicked off this week, restaurant visits were down 22 percent.
While restaurants are a good barometer, the downturn is more widespread.
“In the week starting August 11, foot traffic was down about 81% of retail-store categories in Washington compared to data from a year ago, according to pass_by, with car dealerships, department stores, convenience stores and beauty-supply shops seeing some of the steepest drops.”
President Donald Trump promoted a very different perception in the early hours of Friday morning.
“Washington, D.C. is SAFE AGAIN!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website. “The crowds are coming back, the spirit is high, and our D.C. National Guard and Police are doing a fantastic job. They are out in force, and are NOT PLAYING GAMES!!!”
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A Washington Post poll released Wednesday found nearly eight out of ten (79%) D.C. residents oppose Trump’s takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, and the presence of the National Guard and federal agents patrolling their city’s streets. About the same number, 78%, said they felt very safe in their neighborhoods.
The President made other demonstrably false claims as well: “As bad as it sounds to say, there were no murders this week for the first time in memory.”
According to Fox News, the last time there were no murders in D.C. was in March.
Trump then made his threat: “Mayor Muriel Bowser must immediately stop giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures, or bad things will happen, including a complete and total Federal takeover of the City! Washington D.C. will soon be great again!!!”
The President isn’t the only Trump focused on the takeover.
Donald Trump Jr. on Friday morning told Newsmax, “Maybe we should roll out the tour to Portland, Seattle, you know, the other what we call, you know, c— hole cities of the country.”
He also claimed that Democratic residents of D.C. are very happy about the Trump takeover, a claim not supported by polling.
Watch the video below or at this link.