Statement on Trump’s Extreme and Fascist Attack on DC Home Rule

Date: August 12, 2025

Media Contact: For all press inquiries, please contact media@mdcdsa.org.

Washington, DC: As of yesterday morning, Donald Trump has declared a “public safety emergency” in Washington DC, placed MPD under federal control, and announced plans to deploy the National Guard in DC. This “emergency” is a lie. But more importantly, it is an extreme escalation of the fascist administration’s attacks on DC Home Rule, undertaken with the explicit intent of ramping up the federal government’s ongoing elimination campaign against working people, especially DC’s unhoused and immigrant communities. In the coming days, we can expect to watch the hammer come down on the city we call home, a reality made no less chilling by the fact that we’ve seen this coming since election day.

Our immediate challenge is to defend DC, but the scope of this issue is far broader. The idea that militarized occupation forces can create safety has been pushed at every level: by Mayor Bowser, by the conservatives on the DC Council, by the fascist Trump administration, and by the warmongers in Congress supporting genocide in Palestine. The occupation of our streets is a symptom of a far deeper systemic rot, one we’ve seen manifest around the world driven by capitalist pursuit of profit and power. Fixing this rot requires a fundamental reconstruction of American society that puts working people in control of our own lives, from our workplaces, to our apartment complex, to our Wilson Building, and to our Capitol. Only socialism can beat fascism, so Metro DC DSA will fight on every front and with every fiber of our being for our freedom. Join us! 🌹