WASHINGTON, BRATISLAVA. US President Donald Trump has once again sent National Guard troops into the streets. But this time, instead of California, he has focused on the city of Washington, which is located on the opposite side of the United States.

"The [US] capital has been taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roaming mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people," Trump said on Monday, comparing Washington to one of the"most dangerous" cities in the world.

According to CNN, Trump fabricated a story about a crime-ridden American center to justify his emergency federal takeover of the capital.

But Trump's dystopian depiction of Washington contradicts data showing that crime there has fallen in the past two years, with Democratic Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser noting that violent crime is at a 30-year low.

According to experts, Trump's claims are simply based on false allegations about crime, reports the newspaper The Guardian.

Crime trends

The US president began discussing the use of the National Guard in Washington after the attack on 19-year-old Edward Corstine, a former employee of the US Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who was attacked by a group of young people in the city last week.

Trump has previously portrayed Washington as a"nightmare" and had reportedly been considering an intervention in the city for several months before that.

The US capital has indeed been experiencing unrest, including numerous gun attacks. The Democratic Party, which governs the city, condemned Trump's move, but has long been criticized for its weak response to crime.

Washington was hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic, which saw the city experience a sharp increase in murders in 2023 - 274 people died, up from 203 victims in 2022. It was also the highest number since 1997, but in 1991, Washington, where 482 people were killed at the time, was even called the murder capital of the US.

Crime trends have changed dramatically again in the past two years. In 2024, overall violent crime dropped by 35 percent, the lowest rate in more than 30 years.

U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said the progress was based on a strategy targeting specific groups and drug trafficking networks targeting certain neighborhoods. According to the Metropolitan Police Department's weekly reports, violent crime even dropped another 26 percent in 2025.

The topic of homelessness remains one of Trump's frequent gripes about security in the US, but data repeatedly shows that people without housing are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crimes, The Guardian reports.

A study of homelessness, in which researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) surveyed thousands of homeless people in 2021 and 2022, found that 36 percent of all participants had experienced violence during their current episode of homelessness. Half of the 36 percent said the violence was perpetrated by someone they did not know.

"Homeless people are at an extremely high risk of becoming victims of crime, which is often committed by people with homes and by people who are complete strangers to them," said Professor Margot Kushel.

Instead of protection, homeless people are often targeted for background checks."They don't feel like they can go to the police and report violence."

But Trump is adamant."The homeless must be moved out immediately," he wrote on the Truth Social platform on Sunday, saying he would provide them with housing far from the capital.

Excess of authority

The American president repeatedly justifies his uncompromising policy with threatening claims that often frighten the American people.

In the case of Los Angeles, he claimed the city was being overrun by illegal immigrants. “Violent mobs of rioters are attacking federal agents to try to stop deportation operations,” Trump said in June, defending the deployment of the National Guard in California.

Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass warned that in a democratic society, law enforcement problems should never require military solutions.

"I believed then, as I believe now, that Los Angeles was a test case. I think Washington is a test case," Bass told CNN, suggesting that Trump's move in the capital could be a harbinger of an illegitimate power grab.

"I think it's an abuse of American soldiers. I think it's an overreach of presidential authority."

Polls show that Americans are largely skeptical of deploying American troops in the streets - especially when it comes to suppressing protests.

Trump suggested on Monday that Los Angeles could see more interventions as crime is once again rampant in the city, adding that the city of Chicago could also see interventions.

Totalitarian method

The White House confirmed that the federal takeover will be in effect for 30 days and that 800 National Guard members will take to the streets over the next week.

Trump also promised to allow police to"do whatever they want" if they face provocations, adding that he could also deploy the US military to the scene"if necessary."

CNN believes that the rule of the American president, who portrays himself as the savior of Washington, is becoming increasingly authoritarian, as the use of the military in police roles is a method known from totalitarian states, where the first act of a dictator is usually to send soldiers into the streets.

Trump's"quasi" state of emergency in the US capital is far from his first similar action - in recent months he has declared states of emergency in the areas of energy and migration, for example.

The result of a state of emergency is usually the subsequent release of various powers that the Trump administration would otherwise not have been able to exercise – the US is not facing an energy crisis, but Trump’s declaration of an emergency created new rules for oil drilling, while the migration crisis allowed the Trump administration to suspend asylum processing.

Trump has often provoked questionable crises in his first term, but the US president's zeal is much more pronounced during his second term, comments CNN.

In recent weeks, for example, Trump has also used the US Department of Justice to prosecute officials from the administration of former US President Barack Obama; redistricted Texas to try to create five seats in the House of Representatives for the Republican Party; and imposed massive tariffs to punish Brazil for its prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

According to CNN, the reason for sending the National Guard to the streets may also be to distract Trump supporters from the non-disclosure of files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with whom the American president was friends.

The Trump administration promised to release all documents, but is currently withholding information from the angry"Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement.

“Trump was inspired to commit this disgusting, dangerous and defamatory act solely out of his own self-interest,” Al Sharpton, founder of the nonprofit National Action Network, told The Guardian, also suggesting that the crackdown was likely motivated by a desire to deflect attention from criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein information.

“Let’s call the inspiration for the attack on the majority-black city what it is: Another attempt to distract Trump’s angry and frustrated base from his administration’s handling of the Epstein files.”