President Trump is stepping up the pressure in his crackdown on Washington, D.C., putting a spotlight on the city’s mayor, Muriel Bowser (D), and forcing her to walk a careful tightrope.
Trump on Monday threatened to federalize the District if its police department did not cooperate with immigration enforcement, citing pushback from Bowser and other Democrats.
Prominent Democrats nationwide have railed against Trump’s efforts to insert himself into Democratic-led cities to crackdown on crime, comparing it to an authoritarian tactic. But the District has limited leverage against the federal government, and Bowser has at times leaned into cooperation with the Trump administration, earning periodic praise from the White House.
The issue could come to a head this week, with Bowser and two other top city officials set to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Since Trump announced on Aug. 11 he was deploying the National Guard and taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Bowser has generally avoided direct confrontation with the White House.
The mayor has not railed against the deployment of troops in the city like many Democrats and D.C. residents, and she has publicly acknowledged crime has declined in the city since the Trump administration got involved.
That has earned her some goodwill from the White House.
“We have actually more power in D.C. because it’s — you know, I can change the mayor if I want, I can do whatever I want,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends” in an interview last Friday. “I haven’t had to. We’ve had a great relationship with the mayor. We’ve had a great relationship.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that the administration was “very grateful for the mayor’s cooperation in this effort,” and Leavitt has held Bowser up as an example for other Democrats who have pushed back on threats from Trump to deploy troops to their cities and states.
But Bowser has also not often been in direct communication with Trump since the White House’s crackdown began. Instead, she has worked with Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
The mayor finds herself in a difficult position.
Polling and demonstrations have shown many of her residents are unhappy with the deployment of troops around the city. Leaders in Chicago, Baltimore and elsewhere have aggressively pushed back on threats by the White House to deploy troops to their cities and vowed potential legal battles if necessary.
But Bowser does not have the same leverage as other city leaders. Congress and the White House have the authority to block certain city legislation, Trump can take control of the D.C. police department and deploy the National Guard, and he can exert pressure in other ways on city leaders.
A spokesperson for Bowser’s offense declined to comment about Trump’s latest threat or about the mayor’s relationship with the White House.
But in an interview last week with The Washington Post, Bowser argued her focus was on protecting the city’s autonomy.
“I think what people misunderstand is that I care about what they think about me personally, because I don’t,” Bowser told the news outlet. “What I care about is protecting this city, our home rule and preserving our autonomy at every step.”
Trump’s threat on Monday to “call a National Emergency, and Federalize, if necessary” stems from an order Bowser issued earlier this month that formalized ongoing cooperation between federal officials and District leaders to continue efforts to reduce crime.
That order led to the expiration of Trump’s initial 30-day emergency declaration in the District, but it also excluded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from collaborating with the Metropolitan Police Department.
“Immigration enforcement is not what the MPD does. And with the end of the emergency, it won’t be what MPD does in the future,” Bowser said at a press conference last week.
Trump’s frustration on Monday underscored how much the federal crackdown has been focused on targeting those in the country illegally, with the White House touting hundreds of immigration arrests in the District since mid-August.
The White House said as of last Thursday, there had been 2,409 arrests made since Trump first surged federal law enforcement across the city on Aug. 7. Hundreds of those arrests have been immigrants officials said were in the country illegally.
Trump has argued that the operation in D.C. has been successful, declaring the city is safe again and vowing to take additional steps to beautify aspects of the District.
Polling has shown that while many District residents are vehemently opposed to the deployment of the National Guard around the city, crime is one of Trump’s stronger policy areas with the public as a whole.
An Associated Press-NORC poll published in late August found 53 percent of Americans approved of Trump’s approach on crime, higher than his approval on issues like immigration and the economy. The same poll found 81 percent of respondents viewed crime as a major problem in large cities.
Seizing on the issue, Trump on Monday signed off on the creation of a federal task force to crackdown on crime in Memphis, Tenn., and indicated he would pursue a similar strategy in other cities.
“They keep picking these fights, and they’re just objectively the wrong fights to pick,” one Republican strategist said of Democrats. “National Democrats are upset about the D.C. crime stuff, but then you have Muriel Bowser being like, no this is good. They’re picking the worst possible topic for an argument.”
