The first month of the second Trump administration has been replete with strong-armed, anti-democratic actions that have harmed, and will continue to harm, Americans across the country. Now, President Trump has set his sights on interfering in the local affairs of the District of Columbia. Without statehood, D.C. residents are not only subject to taxation without full representation, but they are vulnerable to efforts by President Trump and Congress to meddle in local affairs and curb the District’s ability to self-govern.

Last week, it was reported that President Trump plans to sign a D.C.-focused Executive Order which would increase penalties for petty crimes and mandate the clearing of homeless encampments, among other actions. The order is supposedly aimed at increasing public safety in the District, which President Trump has called “filthy and crime-ridden.” In doing so, President Trump is following an “old playbook” of politicians using D.C. as a platform for their tough-on-crime agenda. Given that D.C. is about 44% Black and a majority-minority city, “race is the subtext” of this playbook, according to Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler. In reality, D.C.’s violent crime rate is the lowest it has been in over 30 years.

“Without statehood, D.C. residents are not only subject to taxation without full representation, but they are vulnerable to efforts by President Trump and Congress to meddle in local affairs and curb the District’s ability to self-govern.”

Enforcing President Trump’s vision of “public safety” is just one way this administration is set to impact the District. President Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE have launched a broadside attack on federal workers, shutting down the United States Agency for International Development and attempting to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. These actions harm federal workers across the country—more than 80% of whom work outside the D.C. area—and have reverberating effects on everyday Americans, such as farmers, veterans seeking healthcare through the VA and tens of millions of people who rely on Medicaid. Still, they have an outsized impact on D.C., which is home to over 162,000 federal workers and thousands more government contractors.

The layoffs not only affect the workers themselves but are also likely to cause harm across the District. Federal workers and contractors contribute to the D.C. economy, paying rent and taxes and patronizing D.C. establishments. If unemployment in D.C. rises, and it may already be, the local economy as a whole will suffer. Somewhat ironically, this may actually lead to a rise in crime as studies show that unemployment is positively correlated with increased crime. If President Trump were serious about preventing crime in D.C., he would not have pushed for the firing of thousands of its workers. 

While President Trump’s recent interference in D.C. is particularly concerning, it is not necessarily an aberration. The 1973 Home Rule Act gave D.C. critical autonomy to elect its own mayor and council, but it also granted Congress the power to block laws passed by the D.C. Council. Congress, at times at the urging of the president, has used this power to restrict how D.C. uses its own funds. For example, Congress has repeatedly banned D.C. from using local funds to cover abortions through Medicaid and from 1999-2007 it barred the District from using its funds for needle-exchange programs which help prevent the spread of HIV—programs that numerous states and localities are able to spend their own funds on, making D.C. uniquely restricted.  Most recently in 2023, Congress passed, and President Biden signed, a bill overturning a D.C. Council law that would have revised the District’s criminal code.

Yet, President Trump appears poised to play a larger role in D.C. than past presidents. His actions during his first term are one indicator—in 2020, President Trump deployed National Guard troops in D.C. against people protesting the murder of George Floyd. After D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser requested that the troops be withdrawn, President Trump criticized the mayor and said he would send “a different group of men and women,” indicating that he might send more troops. President Trump also reportedly considered seizing control of the D.C. police force in 2020, although he was ultimately dissuaded from doing so. President Trump’s focus on local D.C. matters extended beyond his first term. While on the campaign trail for reelection, he continued to disparage D.C. and push for a federal takeover, saying “[w]e’re going to take it away from the mayor.” President Trump recently reiterated his campaign promise, reportedly saying on February 19th that “[t]he federal government should take over the governance of D.C.”

With President Trump back in office, D.C. residents and political leaders are at risk of both presidential and congressional interference in D.C. matters. In January, two Republican members of Congress introduced a bill to overturn Home Rule, dubbed the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident Act, or BOWSER Act, named after D.C.’s democratically elected Mayor Bowser. The one-line bill would repeal Home Rule without any plan in place to take on the critical work of the D.C. Council and Mayor’s office, likely leading to chaos when it comes to administering basic city functions like trash pick up and snow clearance. 

Statehood for D.C., which can be achieved by Congress passing the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, is a matter of fairness and democracy. It has long been the clearest way to protect the people of D.C. from the federal overreach they face today. Without it, D.C. remains particularly vulnerable to the whims of President Trump, who views the District not as a home to over 700,000 people worthy of self-governance and true representation in Congress, but as a testing ground for his anti-democratic agenda.