Trump Says He’s Planning To Go Out On Patrol In DC With the Military
President Donald Trump told conservative radio host Todd Starnes that he will patrol the streets of Washington, DC, on Thursday night with the National Guard.
Trump, a former reality TV star, deployed the DC National Guard last week in a highly controversial effort to try to reduce crime in the nation’s capital. Trump’s made-for-TV ride-along will certainly be part of an effort to continue to sell the move to the public.
“Yeah, you look at these Democrats and they’re out there, Mr. President. They’re saying they’re actually supporting crime on the streets of Washington. I mean, this is Trump derangement syndrome off the charts,” Starnes said during their conversation.
“That’s right. Because I sent in people to stop crime, they said he’s a dictator. The real people, though, they’re calling — even Democrats are calling me up saying it’s unbelievable. You know, it has been four days, right? And they said it is unbelievable. And I’m going to be going out tonight. I’m gonna keep it a secret, but I’m gonna go — you’re the only one that knows, you and your lots of listeners. You have a great show, you have a very successful show, by the way, in case you haven’t heard that. But I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police and with the military, of course. So we’re going to do a job. The National Guard is great. They’ve done a fantastic job,” replied Trump.
Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and many of her fellow Democrats have repeatedly slammed Trump’s use of the National Guard to fight crime and warned against normalizing troops on American streets.
Bowser initially called Trump’s actions “unsettling and unprecedented” and, in recent days, slammed Republican governors for sending some of their National Guard troops to DC. “I don’t have any authority over the D.C. guard or any other guards, but I think it is, kind of makes the point that this is not about D.C. crime,’ she said over the weekend on the topic.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
