There Are No Girls on the Internet - Trump's DC Takeover is About White Supremacy, Not Crime – A Rant from DC

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

This week, President Trump seized control of Washington DC's police. It's national news, but it's also deeply personal for Bridget, who was born in DC and has lived here most of her life. The situation is still unfolding, but Bridget breaks down what's happening, what decades of DC history say about how we got here, and why people on both the right and the left are talking about it wrong. If you’re listening on Spotify, you can leave a comment there or email us at [e-mail]! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! Many vids each week instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternetSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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There Are No Girls on the Internet as a production of IHeart Radio and UnBossed Creative. I'm Bridget Todd, and this is There Are No. girls on the internet. As some of you might know, I live in Washington, D.C., our nation's capital. And when I'm not making this podcast, I also co-host a podcast about local D.C. News called CityCast, D.C. So this has been a pretty difficult week for the country, but especially a difficult time for my city because Trump announced his administration is taking over D.C.'s police force and deploying the National Guard. So I wanted to talk a little bit about what that means for D.C. from the perspective of someone who lives here. There are obviously implications for the whole country from

something like this. Trump himself has even said that this is just the beginning and he wants to do similar power grabs in cities across the country, but I really want to talk about it from my perspective as somebody who lives in D.C. and is experiencing the impacts of these recent changes. There are definitely some tech and media implications for the kinds of issues that we cover on the show, which I'll definitely get into. But mostly this just feels like an attack on my hometown. so it's pretty personal for me. By the way, if you hear sirens or helicopters while I'm recording, that's just my new reality now, so not much I can do about it, but I'll do my best.

So this feels personal because, you know, D.C. is my home. I've lived in other places. I've lived in San Francisco and Brooklyn and a few other places, but D.C. is really where I'm from. My late mother, God rest her soul, did her medical residency here at Children's Hospital in D.C. I taught English classes to undergraduates at Howard University. I've made lifelong friends here. I've worked a hundred different jobs here.

I fell in love here. Had my heartbroken here. D.C. is where I have lived the longest and is where I will always return to because it's my home. My situation is a little bit unusual because D.C. has a reputation as a transient city, the kind of place where people move for a few years for a job or an internship or school and then leave. People move to D.C. and might not have a ton of investment in the city long term. or they might move here and have no idea about D.C.'s very complex history, which you really need to understand to truly understand what if happening right now with Trump's threats to D.C.

One weird quirk about D.C. is that people who aren't from here or don't live here tend to really only think about it as a seat of national power. They sometimes forget that there's about 700,000 or so people who live here, who endure all of these national political issues really playing out in our backyard. yet who have less electoral power and less agency because we're not a state. And it's a really big problem. So where you live, if you're listening from the United States, assuming you don't live in D.C. like I do, decisions about how your state is run or how your local tax dollars are spent probably

lie with your local and state leaders. But that is not really the case for me and other residents of D.C. We have this weird hybrid situation where there is some local control, but ultimately, Congress has authority over everything. That same Congress that could not even be bothered to pass the city's budget before going on recess, causing chaos in every agency that has to plan for picking up garbage or fixing potholes or keeping the libraries and swimming tools open. And all of this is made worse by the fact that D.C. residents are essentially disenfranchised. We don't have representatives who can vote in either the House or the Senate. Even though we pay taxes just like every other American,

We have less electoral power and less agency because we're not a state. Our license plates here in D.C. say taxation without representation, kind of a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Revolutionary War era rallying cry against the British Parliament. A not-so-fund fact about D.C. is that D.C. residents only got the right to vote in presidential elections in 1961. So when people say things like, call your representative or call your elected official to oppose X. Y. Z. here in D.C., we have no one to call. Our congressional representative, Eleanor Holmes-Norton, cannot vote on bills being considered by the full House.

So we don't really have a say or a voice the same way that folks in other parts of the country do. So all of this background matters for how Trump has been able to threaten D.C. Even before this week, he spent a lot of this campaign and first administration really just talking crap about my city. And finally, earlier this week,

he announced big plans to take take over DC. He really likes to say that he has taken over DC, but you know who's a serial liar, so no one should be surprised to find out that that isn't actually true. The background of this is a little bit complicated, but the quick and dirty version is that DC has had what's called home rule or the ability for DC to govern itself since the 1970s thanks to the Home Rule Act. So even though D.C. is not a state, our local government and leaders can still make decisions about what happens here in the district. When the Home Rule Act passed, it was a win for local rule. control and democracy. But it was also an acknowledgement by Congress that the minutia of running a city

is best left to the folks who live there. So to be clear, as of today, home rule for D.C. still stands. It's still the law of the land. So if you hear folks saying that Trump has taken over D.C., that's not exactly right, and that distinction matters. Trump has taken over D.C.'s police, our local police force, Metropolitan Police Department, or MPD, but not the city itself. But even still, Trump just taking over MPD, our police force, is still very, very bad. So let's talk about exactly what's going on here in D.C. So here's the basics of what's going on. On Monday, the Trump administration announced that they were federalizing D.C.'s police force,

the Metropolitan Police Department or MPD. They also announced that the National Guard would be deployed in D.C. Now, D.C. is in a state, but it does have a national guard that Trump and only, Trump has authority over. Trump is also sending in National Guard from other states into D.C. To do this, Trump evoked Section 740 of the Home Rule Act, which allows for the president to take over MPD for 48 hours, with possible extensions to 30 days during times of emergencies. To do it for any longer than 30 days requires congressional approval, which, let's be real, I honestly don't think would be difficult for Trump to achieve. I cannot overstate how unprecedented

this is. No president has. done this before ever. So all of this means that about 850 officers and agents took part in what they called a massive law enforcement surge across D.C., with about 100 to 200 soldiers expected to be out on the streets at any given time. Why? Well, if you take Trump at his word, he says this whole thing is about crime. Honestly, I don't even really like to give a lot of credence to the claims about this whole thing being about crime, because anyone paying attention can probably see that that is not what this is about. So it is true that D.C. did have a spike in crime in 2003, but since then, crime has steadily gone down in D.C. But if you watched Trump's rambling,

sprawling press conference where he talked about everything from repaving D.C. streets to redoing the ballroom in the White House to trans-use in sports, almost every stat that Trump threw out about crime in D.C. was a lie, misleading, or extremely cherry-picked to paint a point. of crime being out of control in D.C. when it simply isn't. It's almost not even worth calling out all the different instances that he misled people, but here's just a few to give you a sense. So Trump said that crime was getting worse in D.C. That's a lie. A recent Department of Justice report shows that violent crime is down 35 percent since 2023, returning to the previous trend of decreasing crime that puts the district's violent crime rate at its lowest in 30 years. That report shows that when

compared to the 2023 numbers, homicides are down 32 percent, armed carjackings are down 53 percent, and assault with a dangerous weapon are down 27 percent. He also said that the murders in 23 in D.C. reached the highest rate, this is me quoting him, probably ever going back 25 years, but that they didn't know what that means because the data just goes back 25 years. And so when I watched this presser in real time, I was thinking, oh, I guess he's trying to say that, you know, we've only been collecting this data for the last 25 years. Before then, we don't really have records. But then when I actually sat down to think about it, 25 years ago was the year 2000. Does Trump think that crime data was not being collected in the year 2000?

It absolutely was. So that was just another lie. And if people know one thing about DC is that DC in the 80s and 90s, crime was genuinely quite bad. This was during the crack epidemic that hit D.C. very hard. The city's own crime statistics, which we have from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, show that back then when the population of D.C. was smaller, there were much higher numbers of homicides. So not only is that all a lie, it's also a weird, obvious lie where when you hear it, you think, okay, sure, but then when you think about it for just a couple of seconds, you realize how strange and obvious and glaring of a lie that is. I almost wonder if Trump, really does think that crime statistics were not being collected in the year 2000.

And just anecdotally, I've lived here more or less my entire adult life. Crime ebbs and flows. It is part of city life. I understand that. However, crime in D.C. right now is not out of control. It just isn't. I go for walks by myself. I go out at night. And I feel safe because this is where I live. It feels safe to me. Let's take a quick break. podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy not quite on humor me with robert smigel and friends me and hilarious guests from jim gaffigan to bob odenkirk to davidl help make you funnier this week my guest s nL's mikey day and head writer streeter sidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter there's the worst singer in the group the worst yeah me is there anything to the idea that because

you're from harvard uh you only got in because your parents made a huge donation. The yard herds, right? That's the name. The Harvard Yardt Yard. They're open. Do you have a name suggestion? We're open.

Since you guys are middle age, one erection. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Humor me. I need some jokes to make me seem funny. Run a business and not. Thinking about podcasting, think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ad-supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, IHearts twice as large as the next two combined.

So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message. Plus, only IHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business. Think I-Hart. Streaming, radio, and podcasting. Call 844-I-4-I-Hart to get started. That's 844-Ehart. What's up, fam, it's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the line,

lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nasree. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. I'm Cheryl Stray, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things. I'm excited to share that I have a new podcast called Mind Over Mountain. In each episode, I interview athletes, adventurers, and adrenaline seekers to discuss the inner landscapes and life experiences that informed and inspired their extraordinary feats. I also bring a bit of advice into the mix, so we too can better understand how to

face our own seemingly insurmountable challenges. Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to pull out what you already have inside. We're coming into this world, fighting for our lives. All I'm going to do is pull out what you already got inside. We're there to support and celebrate each other. And that's not like your story versus my story. You're going to walk up and over that dang mountain.

You're not just going to put your mind over it. Yep, yep, exactly. And if I can't walk up and over it, I'm going to go through it. Listen to Mind Over Mountain every Thursday on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Edra back. Now, I've heard a lot of people say that this entire thing is a response to the attack on Edward Correstine, also known as the former staffer in Elon Musk's Doge Department, Big Balls.

Big Balls was allegedly attacked on the street in D.C. Thanks to Elon Musk, a one-man misinformation super spreader, there has been a lot of inaccurate information about the, facts of what exactly happened in that situation. So I'm not going to really get into that. However, this image of big balls bloodied on the streets of D.C. created a very visceral image of crime in D.C. And I think this is the thing about crime, which is that it doesn't really matter if all of the stats, all of the data and all of the evidence suggest, oh, crime is going down. If you have one visceral image of a bloody 19-year-old or one video, one viral video of like a looted out

CVS. This has actually caused a bit of a, I don't know, a personal crisis of confidence because as someone who has spent my entire career advocating for the importance of truth and facts and media, the whole thing just makes me wonder if we truly are like beyond facts, if facts simply do not matter anymore. The crime rate can be going to be going. down by every measure, but people still have an emotionally charged photo or a video. And whatever reality that piece of media affirms is the only reality that matters. And I realized that I've really been trying to combat the trusiness. I know that's not a word, but allow me that, of the emotions with actual facts.

And it's not working because those facts just don't work anymore. It's been a whole thing I've been wrestling with. So anyway, back to Big Balls. So I totally get why people think that the attack on him is what sparked all of this. I've seen this framing online a lot that Big Balls got beat up by some girls and Elon Musk had to ask Daddy Trump to take over D.C. because of it. But I will say that Trump has been talking about taking over MPD for a very long time before Elon Musk was ever even in the White House. He referenced it some during his first administration, but for the most part back then,

he more or less ignored D.C.'s local issues, and then he really kicked it up a notch during his second campaign. He actually started out his second administration right when he was in office in January with threatening to takeover D.C. and M.P.D. or Mayor, Muriel Bowser, did not make certain concessions, which will get into in a moment. He also threatened to take over D.C. when another former Trump administration staffer, Mike Gill was shot and killed during a carjacking back in February.

Trump made those same threats of taking over MPD. So Big Balls might have been a convenient timing or a good excuse to actually move forward at a time when Trump was eager to talk about anything other than his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. But I guess I would say I would push back a bit on narratives that suggest that big balls got attacked and that's why Trump is taking over MPD because I don't really think it paints the full story of the fact that this has been a long time coming to anybody paying attention to the conversation that Trump is having about D.C. So if it's not really about crime, then what is it really about? Well, these are my opinions. First, I think with Trump, the overarching theme is always punishment.

Listen, nobody not votes for Republicans like D.C. does not vote for Republicans. Like, if you've ever seen that map of who all voted for Ronald Reagan back in 1984, the entire, map is just one big blotch of full solid red, which is so unusual. And there's just two splotches of blue where they voted for Mondale and not Reagan, Minnesota and D.C. Right. And so rejecting Republicans has always been our thing in D.C. and especially so for Trump. D.C. overwhelmingly did not vote for Trump. Trump did not even win D.C.'s Republican primary, Nikki Haley did. We could not be making it any more clear that we do not like him here. And so I think that that's one big reason while you have Trump taking such a hostile stance against this city from day one, because we didn't

vote for him. We don't like him. I think that that's also why you saw him start out his administration with these horrible attacks on federal workers. I think a class of people that he senses as being overwhelmingly educated and also overwhelmingly not for him. So I think the first and foremost thing was Trump is always going to be retribution. But I also think it is clearly about mounting federal takeovers, starting with Democrat-run cities, and also, let's be real, cities with black and brown political leadership and populations. The cities that he called out by name during his rambling press conference on Monday as places that he was looking to take over next were cities like Baltimore, Chicago, you know, cities that have big, booming black and brown populations, and black

mayors. It's just incredibly clear what is going on here and it's not crime. It's black and brown leadership. Trump hates it and wants to destroy it wherever he can. And unfortunately, because D.C. is unlike any other place in the United States and not being a state, Trump has a lot more authority here in D.C. than he would anywhere else in the country. How else do I know this is not about crime? Well, the Trump administration recently made drastic cuts to D.C. security funding. FEMA's urban Security Fund cut funds for DC to $25.2 million from the fiscal year 2025 Homeland Security Grant Program, which is only a little more than half of what DC received in 2024. Doesn't really seem like the behavior of an administration that is super worried about the crime in the district to almost

half the amount of money that you spend on preventing crime in the district. And also, if you were genuinely worried about effectively combating crime in the district and not worried about, say, having big shows of military and police forces and have it be a big flashy thing if you genuinely were caring about combating crime, you would probably not be using federal agents who are trained to combat things like organized crime and other kinds of federal concerns.

Those are not going to be the people who are most useful as officers trying to stop the kind of crime that D.C. has. Like walking the streets as beat cops. One of the points that our mayor, Muriel Bowser, has made, that Trump bringing in federal officers and military personnel who don't know D.C. law, because why would they? They don't work here. And are not trained in D.C.'s community policing protocols. He's also bringing in military personnel. They are not meant to be dealing with civilians and walking a beat on the streets of D.C., but that is exactly what they are doing right outside my

apartment right now. I mentioned our mayor, Muriel Bowser. I feel like I should talk a bit about her. If you don't live in D.C., you're probably like, who is this person? This is not a name that I recognize. I have been low-key kind of defending the mayor. If you heard me on the Cool Zone podcast, it could happen here. I've actually taken a little bit of heat for some of my defenses of our mayor. Listen, I have a lot of critiques about D.C.'s mayor, just like anybody would of their political leaders. If you want to know my thoughts on Muriel Bowser, I'll be happy to tell you.

However, the point that I have been making for the last few months is that Mayor Bowser is in a position that no other elected official in the country is in. She is navigating something that no other elected official in the United States has to navigate because she is mayor of a city that is not a state. She essentially has to navigate this public relationship with an unstable, lying, racist, fascist in such a way that it will hopefully end with what is best for our city taking place. place, which in my defenses of her, I guess I basically just feel that we should own that that is a reality, right? And that's a complicated thing to have to navigate. During Trump's first administration, Bowser was really taking a defiant stance. She did things like painting Black Lives Matter outside of the White House, for instance. But this time around, we saw a very different public positioning from the mayor. She took this stance of appeasement and control. She took this stance of

appeasement and contrition with Trump very early. I suspect in the hope that they could play nice and Trump would just sort of ignore D.C.'s local issues. When Trump returned to office in January, two of the early things that he demanded our mayor do was tear up Black Lives Matter Plaza Boulevard outside of the White House and remove encampments of unhoused people at Trump's direction, which she did very quickly.

But none of that, none of that whole song and dance that she did of appeasing Trump and doing what he wanted her to do, avoided the outcome that we are seeing this week of Trump federalizing the police force. She had this strategy of appeasement and making concessions in an attempt to avoid this outcome, although to be clear, D.C. still has home rule for now, so that horrible, horrible outcome has not yet come to fruition. But I think it's a good example of why appeasing a fascist doesn't work. And it's disappointing that we have to keep learning that lesson over and over and over again.

And I have to say, I've been a little disappointed with the way that the mayor is responding to the takeover of MPD. She basically has been on record of saying this might be a good thing for the city to have more police and have military personnel walking around. This could be a good thing. Something to really note is that the first messages out of our mayor's office when this went down was that they were saying they were not going to be mounting any kind of legal challenge to what the Trump administration is doing in D.C. because they did not think they would be able to legally challenge anything because the Trump administration did everything by the book. That is pretty different from what we saw from Trump's actions earlier in the administration when it seemed like they were just throwing stuff at the wall to see what would stick

and what would be challenged in court. He did this takeover of D.C.'s police force legally to the elector, to the point where it was not able to be challenged at all legally, which is pretty telling. It wasn't until, I think, yesterday on some kind of a webinar about these changes that the mayor said anything really critical about what was happening. She called it a, quote, authoritarian push, but really barely mentioned Trump by name in any of her public comments. Now, it's possible that she might just be trying to further appease Trump to stave off further threats on DC's home rule, which, I don't know, maybe is a strategy. but in my heart, the way that this is coming off to me, it just feels like we don't have a voice championing us.

And in a moment of crisis, that's really what you want. Whether that person can actually do anything, you do want someone who seems to be like they have your back and they're advocating for you. And personally, I have not felt like that at all right now. The only thing I feel like we have is ourselves, as each other is organizers. I feel like our elected officials have kind of abandoned us.

Both the mayor and the city council have been pretty quiet on any criticism of this takeover. Our congressional representative Eleanor Holmes Norton has also kind of stayed out of it. She has a long history of being a civil rights activist going back decades who has really fought hard and championed D.C.'s autonomy. However, she is also the second oldest member of Congress. And so there's lots of questions about whether or not, we actually have the leadership that can support DC at a time when we clearly need the support and the backbone. And again, I get that some of this might be good strategy. I'm sure somebody

out there listening is like, oh, maybe they're, you know, this is all part of their strategy. But if I'm being honest, it just feels really shitty. Part of this might be my own emotionality, because this week has been a doozy. It is a doozy to walk around your city and see military personnel harassing people. It's a doozy to feel like you don't have a say in what's happening on your own streets, in your own block, on your own city. And so I want to own that like, this could be just my own emotionality of the situation. I do think that even if it's meaningless posturing, I would have liked to have seen elected officials in D.C. who at least made me feel like they were standing up to Trump. If even if,

reality there wasn't much they could do if it was just words. It really made me realize, even if words are just words, sometimes you want to hear the words. I don't know. Maybe it sounds silly, but I was a little bit disappointed. Like you are looking for a message of strength and leadership like somebody's got this and then just hearing crickets doesn't feel great. And I do also want to own that unfortunately, the reality is that the mayor of DC has a lot less power and protection than someone like Gavin Newsom, who has two senators behind him when he took a defiant stance against Trump when Trump deployed the National Guard in L.A. earlier this summer. Even folks like J.B. Pritzker or Wes Moore, they're all governors of states, and that statehood

gives them a lot more protection and autonomy. And here in D.Z, we simply do not have that. And I think when we talk about the importance of stuff like statehood, it is so easy to just get caught up and talking about it as a civil right. issue or racial justice issue or democracy issue, which it absolutely is. But statehood also really matters for how we are able to combat this kind of chaos and hostility. Otherwise, D.C. residents like me end up feeling like we were being held hostage by a madman. More after a quick break. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guide, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman, help make you

funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. The worst singer in the group? The worst? Yeah. Me. Is there anything to the idea that because

you're from Harvard, you only got in because your parents made a huge donation. The group. The yard birds, right? That's the name. The Harvard Yard. But they're open. Do you have a name suggestion? We're open. Since you guys are middle-aged.

Uh, one erection. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Humor me. I need some jokes to make me seem funny. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting, think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ads supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, IHearts twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message.

Plus, only IHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business. Think IHeart. Streaming, radio, and podcasting. Call 844-844-I-Hart to get started. That's 844-8-4-I-Hart. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast's point game is about defining the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series

because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing.

That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. I'm Cheryl Stray, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things. I'm excited to share that I have a new podcast called Mind Over Mountain. In each episode, I interview athletes, adventurers, and adrenaline seekers to discuss the inner landscapes and life experiences that informed and inspired their extraordinary feats.

I also bring a bit of advice into the mix so we too can better understand how to face our own seemingly insurmountable challenges. Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to pull out what you already have inside. We're coming into this world fighting for our lives. All I'm going to do is pull out what you already got inside. we're there to support and celebrate each other. And that's not like your story versus my story.

You're going to walk up and over that dang mountain. You're not just going to put your mind over it. Yep, yep, exactly. And if I can't walk up and over it, I'm going to go through it. Listen to Mind Over Mountain every Thursday on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's get right back into it. All of this just goes to show that D.C. needed full statehood yesterday.

We needed full statehood before. ever before Trump was ever even in the White House. We've needed it since forever. And we don't have that. And until we have that, this kind of chaos that Trump has been able to unleash on our city is not going to end. And I want to talk a bit about what I'm seeing as a D.C. resident here on the ground because things in D.C. are chaotic and grim. We've seen Border Patrol, ICE, D.E.A., FBI, and the National Guard walking the streets of D.C. anecdotally, I can say I have. seen them in places that, to me, really don't make a ton of sense. Like patrolling the super safe Georgetown neighborhood at 10 o'clock at night when it's essentially

a ghost town. Or patrolling the National Mall at 2 p.m. on a weekday. There was also an ice raid at the Home Depot out of Northeast this week, too. The DC police put out an executive order saying that the DC police were now going to be coordinating with ice so that even if they stop somebody and that stop does not end with an arrest or anybody in custody, they would still be allowed to alert ICE about that person and their whereabouts, which I think gives you a sense of the kind of coordination they are building into all of this. Last night, there was a huge display of force and arrests right on my block, which is essentially residential.

I counted over a dozen police vehicles, including unmarked SUVs and Border Patrol pickup trucks. They arrested people who were just coming out of a grocery store. And a lot of these big shows of force have been around arrests for very, very, very. low-level offenses, things like people smoking weed in public, which here in D.C., possession of marijuana is decriminalized, or open containers like drinking in parks, or fare evasions on buses, the kinds of offenses that it makes absolutely no sense to have FBI agents arresting people for. It seems like we now have a bit more information about the category of arrests that were made, and they can kind of make sense of some of the facts and figures and stats coming out of the White House

about what they've been doing in D.C. this week. You know, they've been putting out these big statistics about all of these arrests that they come into the city and been able to make this week. So far, according to my sources, in total since this went down on Monday, they have made about 100 arrests. However, that is about average

for the amount of arrest that D.C. would have made without the Trump administration being in charge. So that means after all of this, they are not even really getting more lawbreakers off the streets. So, again, if this whole thing is meant to be about crime, in which Trump says it is, what exactly is the point? As I'm recording this tonight, I've been reading up on updates about a checkpoints they set up on 14th in U Street, which is kind of a busy corridor with lots of bars and restaurants and shops,

where they've apparently been stopping every car just trying to drive by. I don't know what they're looking for, and honestly, they probably don't even either. I did an interview with a local reporter from the Washington Post, who told me that the majority of the stops were for things like folks not wearing seatbelt or broken taillights expired tags, you know, real violent crime. It just feels like a good old-fashioned drag net, which is meant to be illegal. And I think that tonight, Wednesday night, was really the first look into what all of this is actually going to look like in D.C. Things like checkpoints, disruption, and a real general fear in citizens. I also saw an image of a block totally blocked

off by about six police cars, all trying to make an arrest of one person. And oftentimes, you have these intergovernmental, federal-level military personnel really just standing around. I think they're meant to be, I don't know, intimidating or something. They're just standing there. And I always wonder, like, how much money are we paying to pay these people to stand around in an empty neighborhood at 10 o'clock at night? I think the point of all of this is really to inflame tensions and have there be chaos on the streets. Not for nothing, but we're also in the middle of a pretty bad heat wave here in D.C. So tempers are already hot. Now you've got law enforcement, law enforcement that are not necessarily trained on D.C.'s protocols, some of whom are military

and thus not even really trained on dealing with civilians. And my biggest worry is that all of this is going to result in somebody doing something stupid and the whole thing will turn into a powder keg. And I have to imagine that that is the outcome that Trump wants as well. I think that is the point of all of this. This is also a direct attack on the unhoused community here in D.C. We have already seen horrible footage of unhoused people being taken away by police. I'm not even sure to where. Yesterday, the White House said that they were going to start forcibly removing unhoused people

and forcing them to go to either shelters, hospitals, or jail, or face fines. Which, I don't know how fining somebody who is living on the streets works, but okay. The issue is, D.C. does not have a ton of shelter beds and not every unhoused person is going to want to go to a shelter. Does it make sense for every unhoused person to go to a shelter? I get that. This has been an issue long before Trump ever got involved, but his solution is just a brute force removal of people. He doesn't really have a clear plan for where these people will go. My guess is that quite a few will end up in jail, a strategy that is not only incredibly expensive, it's a strategy that has been proven over and over again to also be ineffective.

And I think that is a big part of the issue here. DC is a city. And in any city you're going to have issues like homelessness and crime. It's just a reality of life in the city. Getting people housed takes time. It is a process. Just wanting to quickly move people who might not have anywhere else to go because they look unseemly, as Trump said, is not solving the problem. All you are doing is traumatizing people who are.

already extremely vulnerable and forcing them to move someplace without a clear plan. And the sad thing is, with the money that we're paying to have federal agents take away unhoused people, we could probably house every unhoused person in D.C. But again, it is not really about any of that. It is not about actually solving problems. It's about the show, the posturing. Okay, so that is my rant. If you're listening and you're not in D.C., you might be thinking, what can people do? What can I do? You're thinking that because you're a good person. You're listening to this podcast. I appreciate it. So, as I have made clear, we do not have meaningful congressional representation in D.C. So we need people who don't live in D.C. to be our

voice, to advocate on our behalf. So contact your representatives and advocate for full statehood for D.C. Republicans, like Mike Lee from Utah, have introduced the Bowser Act. Yep, an act disparagingly named after D.C.'s that would strip D.C. of home rule. I don't have anyone that I can call to make my opinions known about how bad that is. So if you are listening, call your representative and advocate for the self-determination of folks in D.C. Also, follow local organizations like Free D.C. Free D.C. is an advocacy organization that is advocating for self-determination for folks in D.C. They've been around it since the 60s, so very long history of doing good work in D.C. I did an interview for Citicast DC with an organizers from Free D.C. And they told me they were

very prepared for this outcome. They had a census was coming and they've been preparing for it for a while. And what they're focused on right now is really making sure that D.C. residents know their rights, know that they do not have to consent to certain interactions with police and running trainings on things like cop watching, you know, how to film and how to watch police out in the streets. Also, please make sure that you're sharing good, accurate information. This is a little bit tricky because I get the impetus for wanting to share things when you see them, if they scratch a part of your brain, whether they're true or not. I totally get it.

However, I think in times of crisis, what people need is facts. What people need is confirmation. And I've just seen a lot of people, people that I trust, people that I respect, plan a little fast and playing a little loose with the kind of information that they are amplifying right now. So I think it is incredibly important to be precise right now in this time of chaos and confusion and change. I have seen so much misinformation floating around about what is actually happening in D.C. right now. And I guess I would say that what is happening in D.C. right now is very bad. It is bad enough on its own. But Trump has not taken over D.C.

Trump has specifically taken over D.C.'s police. There is certainly a threat of Trump taking over D.C. because we are not a state, but that has not happened. I think it is important, especially during times of confusion and crisis, to amplify good information and resources, not rumors. Trump and his fascist enablers, they want us scared, they want us confused, they want us to not know what the truth is, and we don't have to help add to that kind of a climate for them. One of the narratives I've seen floated a lot is that Trump is going to essentially give DC to

billionaire Peter Thiel. So the idea here is that Trump would sell or give DC to Peter Thiel to create a deregulated so-called Freedom City, which is a very constant talking point of people like Curtis Yarvin, who is this far-right pro-authoritarian voice, who is very cozy with the Trump administration. I have seen this claim all over the internet. I will just say this. Telling people that you believe this is going to happen is not a resource. What people need right now is facts and verified substantiated information. And I just don't think it helps people to get on the internet and potentially spread panic about something that just is not happening today when we are in a time of change and confusion and chaos already. I don't think that there's never any value in speculating about what's next.

I think we should be keeping an eye on the future. But I have seen this thing where I think people are really keen to be the first to amplify a narrative or a claim that they think is going to get lots of engagement that feels sexy and flashy. And I completely get that. However, people also need facts and resources. And I understand that that's a lot less sexy and a lot less flashy. But that's what actually was going to help people right now. And that's what people should be amplifying. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about what could be next. what could be coming down the line. So first, can Trump take over D.C.? Trump has said time and time again that he wants to revoke D.C.'s home rule and have the federal government dictate how D.C. is run as a city.

This would mean that D.C. would have no mayor, no city council, and the only people who would decide how D.C. is run are Trump and a small handful of commissioners that Trump personally appoints. I think the last time that D.C. did not have home rule, it was three people. None of those people lived in D.C. In fact, the only person who lived in D.C. who could even potentially see the impact of their leadership was the president who lived in the White House. So this would mean that all of D.C. services, public schools, social services, trash pickup, road services, D.C. public health, all of it would be run by Trump personally. To even get a road repaved in D.C. would require congressional oversight. And we have been through this once before. The last time that DC did not have

home rule and it was run by the president and Congress, it turned out that nobody actually wanted to be in control of the minutia and everyday issues of running a city. So guess what? They basically didn't and DC was deeply neglected. It was not a good time for the city. And that is what Trump has been saying he wants to do. And the thing is, Trump hates cities. Yes. yet here he is clamoring to run one. And I think that is my big issue with all of this. I hate how people on the left, myself very much included, are kind of playing into Trump's narratives about cities and crime. I find myself being so reactive, combating all of the different lies that Trump tells about our city being this bombed out crime-infested hellhole that it's like he pulls me into playing

his game where the only thing I can do is combat all of these lies, and I'm not actually telling the truth of the reality that I know to be true about my own city. Our cities are not crime-infested hellholes. Our cities are great. Our cities are awesome. Washington, D.C. is a great place to live. People want to live in cities. If D.C. was not a good place to live, my rent would not be so expensive. People obviously want to be here. New York City is a great place to live. People want to live there. That's why the rent is expensive. Public transport, subways, buses, the metro are safe and good, and people use them and rely on them because they make our lives better. Chicago is a great place to live.

People go to these cities. People who don't live in these cities get on planes and get in cars and get on buses to visit these cities because they want to see them because those cities are good. Millions of people choose to live in these cities every single day and keep. Moving there, despite sky high rent, despite things like crime being a reality of living in a city, because they want to live there. If you are an old racist fuck like Trump or a scared little boy like these pundits on Fox News who make a living talking about how terrified they are when they step onto the asphalt in a city, I can understand why being in a city might be unfamiliar and scary. But those of us who live in cities and those of us who like cities and those of us who respect cities, see and understand how. how silly that is. Right-wing lawmakers and right-wing influencers from red states,

get on TV or get on the Internet and talk about how terrified they are to walk down the streets of D.C., a city where me and the kinds of people that they would probably denigrate as my blue-haired, queer, soy boy art school friends navigate every single day. Like, I thought John was supposed to be tough guys, so tough that you completely fall apart with fear when you step outside in the city that I navigate every single day of my life. We live in cities because we love culture.

We love the strangeness of strangers. We love walking. We love the rush of trying to make it in a place that is hard. Yes, crime happens in cities, but crime happens everywhere. And I refuse to be drawn into a debate that begins and ends about arguing crime statistics. Because this whole thing has never been about crime. It is and always has been about Trump denigrating cities as somehow un-American. But our country was founded in cities, cities like this.

Lodelia, New York, and Boston by people who loved cities. Cities are good. Cities are part of how we understand America and how we have always understood America. How many movies, books, and songs are about people heading out to the city in search of something good and something better. In that Velvet Underground song, Rock and Roll, it is a New York station that saves Jenny's life with the power of rock and roll from her town where nothing is happening at all. Like, I'm not going to sit here and let Trump rewrite the narrative that cities are bad when we know that cities are good and have always been good, no matter how many times Republicans want to how that they don't. If you need any evidence of that, just look at real estate prices. So that is my rant about this whole thing.

Honestly, it has been a fucking week here in D.C. I've barely slept. Things are not great here. But I love my city, even in a time where I feel like it is. tough. I don't know what's next for D.C., but this is still always going to be my home. And I know that I will outlast Trump here, you know? I know that. And I just think that even at a time where it feels like our political leaders and elected officials maybe don't have our backs in the way that we would like them to have, the one thing I do know is that I believe in us. I believe in the power of people.

You know, I was telling you about how on 14th Street, they had a checkpoint set up of military personnel, taking people out of cars. They also had lines of D.C. residents lined up that self-organized to stand around and boo those people and make their displeasure known. I believe in the power of people like that. And, you know, I know that things are weird and tough right now,

but sometimes that's really all you have. All we have is each other. And so, yeah, times are tough. but cities are forever, cities forever. Got a story about an interesting thing in tech or just want to say hi? You can reach us at hello at tangoody.com. You can also find transcripts for today's episode at tangoody.com. There are no girls on the internet was created by me, Bridget Todd.

It's a production of IHeart Radio and Unbossed Creative. Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer. Tari Harrison is our producer and sound engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. Edited by Joey Pat. I'm your host, Bridget Todd. If you want to help us grow, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, check out the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends

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