On August 11, 2025, President Trump announced that the federal government has declared a public safety emergency in Washington, DC, in response to falsehoods about violent crime in our nation’s capital. As in Los Angeles, he will call up National Guard troops and take control of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.
While DC does not have the traditional protections that states enjoy, meaning that Trump may have some temporary legal authority to do what he’s announced, it is an unmistakable escalation of the attacks his administration has waged against those deemed progressive or politically vulnerable.
In a press conference, Trump justified the government’s actions using dehumanizing fantasies of its most marginalized people. Washingtonians who use drugs were rendered “drugged out maniacs” and people experiencing homelessness were diminished to a nameless, faceless abstraction seeking to turn our nation’s capital “into a wasteland.” Let us be clear: these lies about DC’s people cannot, will not, stand, especially when used to justify these actions.
Remember, too, that these escalations are brought on amidst national tragedies about which this administration has done or said little to nothing: the widespread destruction of recent hurricanes; the mass casualties of the Texas floods; and the multiple active shooter events in Georgia, to name just a few. Dedicated public servants at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been shaken by the terrifying shooting that took place at their Atlanta headquarters on August 9th. Where is this administration’s outrage at an actual attack on a federal agency? They remain mum.
The use of deceit and its cultivation of ignorance may push this administration’s harmful agenda forward; yet among Americans it will only reap more anger, chaos, and ultimately violence – like that enacted against the CDC last week.
With this as our reality, it is AIDS United’s duty to practice and amplify truth-telling – verifiable, statistically-reinforced truth-telling – supported by communities of people committed to building the kind of nation we were once promised: a nation of liberty and justice for all.
It is only by pursuing these truths and raising up the lived experiences that demonstrate them that we can preserve our democracy and address the inequities that surround us. We stand firmly against the takeover of Washington, DC, and this administration’s use and abuse of the most marginalized among us.