Illustration: Derek Abella for Bloomberg
Trump’s Politics of Urban Disgust
The president’s unprecedented takeover of Washington, DC law enforcement weds a crime crackdown to a gilded vision for remaking the capital.
President Donald Trump launched a federal takeover of law enforcement this week in Washington, DC, opening a daunting new chapter in the city’s relationship with the federal government.
On the surface, Trump signed the emergency order to crack down on crime. But threaded through his announcement of the new directive was a broader vision for the aesthetic transformation of Washington. In the same breath that he described collaring criminals and clearing homeless camps, he envisioned grandiose building projects to remake Washington in his image.