President Donald Trump announced that he supports efforts for the federal government to “take over” Washington, D.C. to “make it safe.”
“I think we should take over Washington, D.C. — make it safe,” Trump told reporters, adding, “I think that we should govern [the] District of Columbia.”
“It’s so important, the D.C. situation. I think that we should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely, flawlessly beautiful,” he said, noting that D.C. officials are “not doing the job, too much crime, too much graffiti, too many tents on the lawns, there’s magnificent lawns and there’s tents. It’s a sad thing. Homeless people all over the place. We’ve got to take care of the homeless, but I can’t have that in Washington, D.C.”
Republicans introduced a bill earlier this month to repeal the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) brought the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident (BOWSER) Act in response to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s failure to “prevent violent crime, corruption, and voting by non-citizens,” a press release on the bill says.
“The corruption, crime, and incompetence of the D.C. government has been an embarrassment to our nation’s capital for decades,” Lee said of the bill. “It is long past time that Congress restored the honor and integrity of George Washington to the beautiful city which bears his name.”
Ogles said it “seems appropriate for Congress to reclaim its Constitutional authority and restore the nation’s Capital. The epicenter of not only the United States Federal Government but also the world geopolitics cannot continue to be a cesspool of Democrats’ failed policies.”
