To hear President Trump tell it, the nation’s capital is something akin to a blighted property in need of repair.
Washington, he says, is “unsafe” and “dirty” and “disgusting.” It is menaced by “bloodthirsty criminals” and marred by homelessness. It needs to be cleaned up and made “beautiful again.”
Mr. Trump’s bleak description of Washington is consistent with his view of American cities as dangerous and violent, dating to his time in New York City in the 1970s and ’80s during a period of rampant crime. On Monday, as he announced a temporary federal takeover of Washington’s police, Mr. Trump suggested that his background as a New York real estate developer made him more suited than the local authorities to blot out crime and homelessness in the nation’s capital.
“It’s a natural instinct as a real estate person,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he compared his envisioned makeover of Washington to his recent gold-trimmed makeover of the White House. “I was very good at that, and I was very good at fixing things up. I like fixing things up.”
He promised to rid Washington of trash, graffiti, potholes, homeless people and more, even as he ignored the fact that violent crime has fallen recently to a 30-year low. While Washington has struggled with youth crime, particularly robberies and carjackings, overall crime has fallen sharply in recent years.
In 2024, Washington had a violent crime rate of about 1,005 per 100,000 residents, according to data reported to the F.B.I. That is far less than cities with similar population sizes like Memphis and Detroit but also more than cities like Denver, Seattle and Louisville, Ky.
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The post For Trump, Cities Like Washington Are Real Estate in Need of Fixing Up appeared first on New York Times.
