What Trump's DC Takeover is Really About

• Two children—8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski—were shot and killed at their Minneapolis Catholic school on Wednesday during mass. The suspected shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman, fired through the school’s windows from outside, injuring 18 others, including 15 children and three adults, before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Westman—who was born male but identified as female—attended the same school as a child. Officials say Westman had no prior criminal record and bought the guns legally. The FBI said the shooting is being investigated as domestic terrorism and as a hate crime against Catholics.

• Trump fired CDC Director Susan Monarez after she refused to resign under pressure from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Monarez had been nominated by Trump and confirmed by Congress 51–47 less than a month ago.
  • Kennedy pushed her out after she declined to rubber-stamp a controversial new vaccination schedule or fire senior scientists. Monarez’s lawyers said, "She chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda.
  • This week, the HHS and the FDA have restricted Covid-19 vaccine eligibility to adults 65+ and people of any age with at least one medical condition. Others will likely face out-of-pocket costs. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) called the decision “deeply troubling” because “respiratory illnesses can be especially risky for infants and toddlers, whose airways and lungs are small and still developing.”
  • In June, Kennedy had already fired the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee—the panel of independent doctors and scientists who construct vaccination schedules—and replaced it with his own advisors, many of whom oppose most vaccines despite overwhelming scientific evidence of their safety and efficacy.
  • Kennedy has tapped Monarez’s deputy, Jim O’Neill—a financial executive with no medical background—as her replacement.
  • Demetre Daskalakis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and two other senior officials resigned in protest. In his resignation letter, Daskalakis said the administration was treating the CDC “as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.” He warned the new vaccine committee “puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader.” Daskalakis later told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki that no CDC scientist has ever briefed Kennedy since he took office.

• Trump fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, alleging without evidence that she committed mortgage fraud by listing two different primary residences. By law, presidents cannot fire Fed governors—who are granted independence from political pressure—unless there is “cause.” Cook denies wrongdoing and has refused to leave. No governor has ever been fired in the Federal Reserve’s 112-year history. Cook is suing Trump to contest her removal.

• Gaza’s death toll has reached 63,000, according to the Ministry of Health.
• Five people died of starvation this week due to Israel’s blockade. Since October 2023, at least 322 people—including 121 children—have starved to death.
• Israel is moving forward with plans to push one million people out of Gaza City and into concentration camps, intensifying attacks and ending tactical pauses meant for humanitarian aid. This comes even as The Guardian reports Hamas accepted a partial ceasefire deal Israel previously agreed to.
• An Israeli airstrike on Nasser Hospital killed 21 people this week, including five journalists. Witnesses described it as a “double-tap” strike—two consecutive attacks, the second timed to kill first responders and journalists who rush to the scene after the first strike. These strikes violate international law.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu dismissed it as a “tragic mishap.” Israel has a long documented record of targeting journalists and medics, often calling such strikes mistakes with little investigation or accountability.
  • “While Netanyahu wrote off the Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital that killed journalists, rescue workers and civilians as a ‘tragic mishap,’ his own favorite TV network, Channel 14, reported that ‘The soldiers say: the attack on the Nasser terror headquarters was approved and coordinated with the high command.’” (CounterPunch)
  • Among those killed at Nasser Hospital was Mariam Abu Daqqa, a freelancer who worked with the AP. The AP is demanding an investigation.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio is refusing to grant visas to Palestinian officials—including Mahmoud Abbas—to attend the U.N. General Assembly in September. The State Department accused them of “undermining the prospects for peace” and demanded they “repudiate terrorism.”

• Hollywood heavyweights Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jewish director Jonathan Glazer have signed on as executive producers of The Voice of Hind Rajab, a Tunisian film retelling the horrific story of a 6-year-old Palestinian girl trapped in a vehicle with her dead relatives as she pleaded for rescue under Israeli fire. Tunisia has submitted the film as its Oscar entry for Best International Feature.

Background: Earlier this month, Trump declared a “crime emergency” in Washington, DC, claiming crime was “out of control” and that local law enforcement had failed. He used that excuse to invoke the Home Rule Act, which allows a president to take control of local police and activate the National Guard for up to 30 days without congressional approval. No president has ever used it in the law’s history.

But Trump’s claim is false. Crime in DC is down. While homicides spiked in 2023, the Biden DOJ reported earlier this year that violent crime fell 35% in 2024 to a 30-year low—the second lowest since 1966.

So what’s really going on? The real goal appears to be a show of authoritarian force—a test case in DC to justify extending similar crackdowns to other cities, particularly Democratic strongholds. Immigration is also central: Trump is threatening to seize control of local police in sanctuary cities like Chicago to enforce deportations and arrests without due process.

Even former President Barack Obama, usually reluctant to weigh in, spoke up, sharing an Ezra Klein piece warning that Trump is manufacturing a crisis to expand authoritarian control.

Klein writes that when he envisions the future, the picture he sees is “[n]ot Trump cleaning up crisis or disorder but Trump creating crisis and disorder so he can build what he has wanted to build: an authoritarian state, a military or a paramilitary that answers only to him—that puts him in total control.”

Trump has already declared nine other “emergencies” to consolidate power.

Notes:

• 2,000 National Guard troops are deployed in DC, costing taxpayers about $1 million per day.
• Guard troops are trained for combat reserves and disaster response—not city policing. One vehicle crashed into an SUV, injuring a driver.
• On Monday, troops began carrying weapons.
• Tourism is down, and restaurants are reporting fewer reservations.
• Some neighborhoods now “feel deserted,” especially for immigrants afraid to leave home.
• If crime's so high, why have some troops have been assigned to trash collection and landscaping duties?
• DOJ claims of 1,000 arrests raise questions of due cause, racial bias, and civil liberties. Trump also signed an EO ending “cashless bail,” which disproportionately affects low-income Black and brown residents. Critics say studies show little link between bail reform and crime. (Axios)
• The Washington Post highlighted questionable arrests—including one over an open container and another that prosecutors later dropped entirely.
• Even grand juries, normally quick to indict, have rejected Trump-era charges, including a federal case over a protester who threw a sandwich.

Experts:

• Elizabeth Goitein, Brennan Center: “It just seems like this is a flexing of federal muscle to intimidate jurisdictions across the country… It’s not clear what could bring this to an end, other than intervention by the courts, by Congress or overwhelming public disapproval.”
• DC Mayor Muriel Bowser says the takeover has lowered crime, citing an 87% drop in carjackings in 20 days. But crime analyst Jeff Asher warns the decline may be “artificial,” since crime data often lags by weeks.

• DHS will slash disaster aid grants for nonprofits that help undocumented immigrants. Faith-based groups warn the rules will deter people from seeking lifesaving aid and undermine humanitarian principles.
• A federal judge ordered the closure of “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida for environmental violations. All detainees must be relocated within 60 days.
• Despite a 1989 SCOTUS ruling protecting flag burning, Trump signed an executive order making it punishable by a year in jail.
• Kilmar Abrego Garcia—the Maryland father deported by mistake and jailed in El Salvador—has made a second request for asylum. The administration is now trying to deport him to Uganda.
• A federal appeals court ruled 7–4 that Trump lacked authority to impose “reciprocal tariffs.” The White House is expected to appeal to SCOTUS.
• Trump revoked Biden’s extension of VP Kamala Harris’ Secret Service protection, just as she begins a book tour for 107 Days.
• The Trump Administration is threatening to cut funding for state sex-ed programs unless they remove all references to transgender people.