Trigger Warning: This article mentions details about homicide, abuse, and more.
Donald Trump‘s habit of dropping fiery updates on his platform, Truth Social. In yet another post on Wednesday night, Trump escalated his campaign against crime in Washington, D.C., bluntly declaring: “The White House is in charge.”
He claimed that America’s capital has one of the highest crime rates in the world, which may be worse than cities like Mexico City, Bogotá, and even Fallujah. He claims people are too scared to call the police. Gangs are running the streets. “If D.C. were a State, it would have the highest Homicide Rate of any State in America,” he added in the long rant.
As per The Daily Beast, he continued saying that D.C is full of thugs and people live in fear of being targeted, and as a result, Trump has taken over the city’s police force and brought in 800 National Guard troops. He says they’ll clean up the town and make it “safe and beautiful again.”
Since Trump’s claims were more serious than his usual vague ones, multiple news outlets quickly fact-checked his statements. PolitiFact noted that the crime statistics he referenced were from 2023 and that D.C.’s homicide rate has significantly decreased since then.
As per the outlet, in 2024, the city’s homicide rate stood at 27.3 per 100,000 people. A Justice Department report released in January, shortly before Trump’s inauguration, highlighted that violent crime in D.C. had dropped by 35%, marking the lowest level in more than 30 years. Meanwhile, a New York Times analysis also challenged Trump’s narrative, pointing out that 49 cities worldwide have higher homicide rates than Washington, D.C.
NEW: President Trump says, “Washington, D.C., has one of the Highest Rates of Crime in the World… The City’s Homicide Rate is higher than places notorious for their violence… The Murder Rate has essentially DOUBLED in just over a decade… The REAL numbers are many times worse…… pic.twitter.com/vAyCp5sWSe
— Melissa Hallman (@dotconnectinga) August 13, 2025
These cities are St. Louis, New Orleans, and Detroit. Hence, PolitiFact ultimately ruled Trump’s claim that D.C. had the “number one homicide rate in the world” as false. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has deployed approximately 800 National Guard troops to D.C., citing what he calls a crisis of “out-of-control crime.”
However, there’s an exception for POTUS here, under section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, the head of state can take emergency control of the D.C. police. Still, it’s only valid for 30 days unless extended by an act of Congress. In addition, Trump hinted at introducing a new federal crime bill focused on the capital city.
President claims US capital ‘overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals … and homeless people’
Truth?
Crime rates falling https://t.co/RPJO1u4bYZ pic.twitter.com/JPortPSTi5— Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd) August 12, 2025
This isn’t the first time that Donald Trump has made false claims online. He has a history of spreading misinformation regarding elections and promoting baseless claims of widespread voter fraud following 2020, and then did the same in 2024 and 2025 as well.
For instance, he purposely targeted states like Pennsylvania and made several bogus statements, like, “We ended up winning Pennsylvania in a landslide.” This statement clearly isn’t true and is a very misleading statement, as Trump won Pennsylvania by less than two percentage points.
There is no crime surge in Washington; last year, violent crime hit a 30-year low. However, Trump has fretted for decades about urban blight, and he carried that fixation with him to the White House.
“If our capital is dirty, our whole country is dirty,” he said.
— The Neighborhood Finance Guy 📈🚀💵 (@GQ_Accountant) August 12, 2025
On several other occasions, not only does he dismiss questions from reporters and skillfully diverts the discussions, but he also allegedly lies a lot. Currently, he is already under a lot of pressure owing to his name being dragged into the Jeffrey Epstein files case, followed by his recent fallout with his former best friend, Elon Musk.
Furthermore, a lot of people are mad at his administration for the ruthless deportation policies, the alleged inhuman treatment of detainees at Alligator Alcatraz in Florida, which has erupted in protests in states like Texas and California.
Yet, the former business tycoon hasn’t given up, and he’s urged to bring back the golden age of America, just his way, which may be because he is as stubborn, fast, and chaotic as ever.
