OLD AND QUIRKY

A CIVIC ALARM BELL

Washington, D.C., now hosts 2,000 National Guard troops—armed, visible, and federally controlled. Their presence is framed as a response to crime. Yet violent crime in the city has declined sharply, reaching a 30-year low. The contradiction invites a deeper question: What purpose does this deployment truly serve?

There is no crisis in DC. The troops are not responding to riots or unrest. They are not assisting overwhelmed police. They are simply… present. Armed. Watching. This raises constitutional alarms—not because of what has happened, but because of what could.

The troops are doing a bit of gardening. They are assisting the park service in spreading mulch around the cherry trees.

SYMBOLISM AND POWER

Deploying National Guard Troops from distant states to perform menial tasks—mulching and picking up trash—does not address any genuine security need in the district.  Instead, these actions serve to normalize a visible military presence in everyday civic life, subtly permitting federal control even in the absence of crisis. This strategy aligns with tactics often seen in authoritarian regimes where symbols of force are introduced to assert dominance and discourage dissent.  The insistence that these troops were necessary to “crack down on crime” stands in stark contrast to the city’s record-low crime rate and the absence of unrest. These troops are being used as instruments of power and symbolism to reinforce the notion that Trump is the sole protector.

A CIVIC PROTECTOR

Deploying troops in a peaceful city sends a message—not of safety, but for control.  It normalizes the presence of armed forces in civic life. It blurs the line between policing and militarization. And it risks turning the capital into a stage for political theater, rather than democratic governance.

With Trump underwater on all his key issues and his job approval rating dismal, the administration is trying to create support for him by insisting that the U.S. is mired in criminal activity and he alone can solve the problem. The administration’s solution is not to fund violence prevention programs and local law enforcement—two methods proven to work—but instead use the power of the government to terrorize communities,

There is a frantic feel to the effort, as if the feel they must convince Americans to fear crime more than they fear of rising grocery prices or having to take their children past police checkpoints on their way to school.

Now, with Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker taking a stand against the deployment of troops in Chicago, Trump is nervous about sending troops on his own hook and instead is trying to pressure Pritzker to ask for them.  He has complained about Pritzker not asking for troops and on social media he has referred to Pritzker as  “an incompetent Governor who should call me for HELP.”

A CALL FOR VIGILENCE

This is not just about D.C.  It is about precedents.  If federal troops can be deployed without legal justification, what stops future administrations from doing the same—anywhere, anytime?

Democracy depends not just on elections, but on norms. On restraint.  On the quiet, often invisible boundaries between civilian life and military power.  When those boundaries erode, history warns us that freedom will follow.

Each moment carries its own context. But all share a common thread: the tension between federal force and civil liberty.

T. Michael Smith

Wwwtmichaelsmith