In just one summer of living in D.C., I’ve witnessed a couple fight over crack cocaine on the bus while the man threatened to beat his girlfriend and homeless regulars sleeping on Pennsylvania Avenue around the corner from the Capitol building, while rats roam right next to them. I’ve seen a dozen people show signs of schizophrenia as they yell at the empty bus seat or open space next to them.
I’ve witnessed homeless people encamp right outside of Union Station, a man try to break into my car while I was getting ice cream in the Eastern Market, single moms full of anger that they direct at their kids while on the Metro and buses, and urine perfume every Metro station I’ve been in.
You don’t have to look far to see the brokenness, violence, and filth that’s in D.C. In fact, I took a quick drive around the city and captured the photos below showing readers that reality. But that hasn’t stopped legacy media journalists from denying that D.C. has a problem — likely from their ritzy neighborhood bubbles and million-dollar mansions.
Earlier this week, for example, journalist Ron Kampeas boasted that he’s “never been carjacked,” and therefore it must not be an issue for anyone else in the city (despite the fact that he does not live in D.C.). The New York Times’ Peter Baker even called it a “nonexistent crime crisis.”
But anyone living in D.C. who has eyes and ears to see the homelessness, crime, filth, and boarded-up windows knows that D.C. needs help — and the president has finally taken concrete moves to do so.
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
Trump declared a “public safety emergency in the District of Columbia” during Monday’s announcement of an initiative to rein in homelessness and crime, starting with deploying National Guard troops, invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, and leaning into his Article II constitutional power.
“The District of Columbia has lost control of public order and safety in the city, as evidenced by the two embassy staffers who were murdered in May, the Congressional intern who was fatally shot a short distance from the White House in June, and the Administration staffer who was mercilessly beaten by a violent mob days ago,” said Trump’s presidential memo on Monday.
A homeless man sleeping in front of Union Station
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
According to the Trump administration, the U.S. capital has a much higher murder rate than many other capitals, including some in third-world countries, like Bogota, Mexico City, and Islamabad.
“I don’t like being up here talking about how unsafe and how dirty and disgusting this once beautiful capital was,” Trump said during Monday’s announcement.
With a population surpassing 700,000 people and a total area of 68 square miles (18 times smaller than the U.S’s smallest state of Rhode Island), D.C.’s homelessness rate is as bad or worse than it is in states like California and Hawaii.
Trump has already taken steps to aid the mental disorders that cripple many homeless people. On July 24, Trump signed an order with the purpose of “shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order.”
D.C.’s poverty rate is near 15 percent while the U.S.’s is 11.1 percent. The capital of the free world and home base for the American dream has a higher unemployment rate than any state at 5.9 percent.
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
This past weekend a large group of teens “terrorized residents of Navy Yard, launching fireworks, riding dirt bikes, and intimidating law-abiding citizens,” with one teen being arrested after allegedly shooting a gun at a group of teens, The Federalist’s Breccan Thies reported. A 2021 report found that in the United States’ capital city, “66 percent of homicide victims/suspects and 64 percent of nonfatal shooting victim[s]/suspects were between the ages of 18-34.”
Pennsylvania Ave
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
New York Ave
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
D.C. had the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country in 2023 and 2024, according to USA Facts and the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Center for Public Safety Initiatives. In 2012, the murder rate was close to 14 per 100,000 residents, compared to 2024’s rate of roughly 27, a near doubling of the murder rate over the last twelve years. This didn’t stop MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian from describing crime as having reached “historic lows.”
Down the road from the U.S. National Arboretum
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
According to Metropolitan Police numbers, D.C.’s overall crime statistically decreased in 2024 compared to 2023, which reflects the trend of crime decreasing across the country. Notably, a D.C. police commander was suspended in May for allegedly “changing crime statistics,” NBC4 Washington reported.
To hear from the people actually living in the District of Columbia, Child Trends — an organization “focused solely on improving the lives of children, youth, and families” — commissioned a team of young adults from Wards 7 and 8 (known for some of the highest crime in D.C.) to conduct a study that gather responses from 157 D.C. locals aged 14 to 70. They found that 46 percent of participants said “they had stayed home at least once in the last month because they felt unsafe.”
“Gunshots outside are part of everyday life,” the study stated, despite D.C. having strict gun laws. “More than half of our participating youth reported feeling stressed (51%), anxious (80%), or depressed (56%) due to exposure to violence.”
Located in Anacostia in Ward 7
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
The Washington Post also interviewed a D.C. local, and the individual said that D.C. is a “safe city” but asked for “anonymity over concerns of personal safety.”
In another article, the Post attempted to frame Trump as the one who is disconnected from reality, stating: “Overall, violent crime is down 26 percent in the District compared with 2024, according to D.C. police data. But when Trump referenced the attempted carjacking in a Truth Social post Tuesday, he described crime in D.C. as ‘out of control.’”
The New York Times even called Trump’s anti-crime initiative an “extraordinary exertion of federal power over an American city,” saying that Trump is wrongfully portraying “Washington as an urban hellscape.”
Outside MLK Library, around the corner from the National Portrait Gallery
Image CreditAbigail Nichols/the federalist
Despite the clear problems in D.C., legacy media outlets are more focused on downplaying the issues and criticizing Trump for his recent efforts than on solving the capital city’s problems.
As I wrote this article, The Federalist’s office door “was blockaded by a belligerent, drunk homeless man screaming profanities,” leaving me trapped inside and my colleague Jacqueline-Annis Leavings outside after her lunch break. After two calls to the D.C. Metropolitan Police and Federalist Correspondent Breccan Thies driving into town to help because the police wouldn’t show up, the man finally moved a little way down the street. (See the full article about the experience here.)
The capital of the free world, which hosted more than 27 million visitors in 2024, should be clean and have a low murder rate. Everyone —including biased media members who work in Washington — should be celebrating the efforts to make sure D.C. becomes a better city with better opportunities.
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
Image CreditAbigail Nichols / The Federalist
Abigail Nichols is a correspondent for The Federalist. She was previously the opinion editor for the University of South Florida’s student newspaper, The Oracle. She is now working as the business manager at the University of North Florida’s student-run media outlet, Spinnaker Media, while obtaining a Master’s Degree in Social work.
