JD vance with troop visit – “frees Washington”

US Vice President JD Vance was booed by demonstrators when he visited soldiers of the National Guard in Washington. Citizens called “Free DC” (freed Washington) and loudly boosted when Vance and Defense Minister Pete Hegseth were in the Union Station Central Station. The Vice President made fun of the rally and spoke of a “group of crazy demonstrators”.

US President Donald Trump has stationed 800 soldiers from the National Guard in the capital. They are currently strengthened by 1200 other forces from the states of Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Among other things, the soldiers patrol around the White House and on the mall populated by tourists between Congress and Lincoln monument as well as in train stations and metro stations.

Trump justifies troops with an alleged security “emergency” in Washington. He also submitted the local police for control by his government. Trump had said on August 11 that he would preserve Washington from “crime, bloodshed, chaos, misery and worse”. The US capital is a stronghold of the Democratic Party and has special status as a “District of Columbia” (short: DC).

Vance said Washington has a “terrible problem of crime” and “one of the highest mudratas all over the world”. Mayor Muriel Bowser, on the other hand, emphasizes that crime is at a 30-year low. Statistics of the local police show a significant decline in violent crimes between 2023 and 2024, after an increase during corona pandemic.

It is the first time in 60 years that a US president sends the national guard against the will of the local authorities. In June, Trump had already mobilized the National Guard and special forces of Marines in Los Angeles to end protests against his immigration policy.