This is one of the reasons why Trump must federalize the D.C. Police and National Guard to strip the mayor of any instruments of enforcement or force. D.C. has a special legal status as the seat of the federal government, so Trump would not be abusing presidential authority. Trump should shut down the BLM staging area and set up a concentric series of layered perimeters extending several blocks beyond the White House in all directions. Federal authorities can use D.C. Police to enforce local anti-vagrancy laws to prevent encampments from turning into autonomous zones or worse.
Those preparations will deny the D.C. government the ability to permit any “siege” to take place, and empower Trump to protect the integrity of the White House, the neighboring Treasury and Veterans’ Affairs departments, and other federal facilities from what is certain to be a seething and violent mob encampment. Firehoses spiked with pepper spray, K9 units, sound cannons, and other methods will form the first extended layers of defense and limit bloody, military-style incidents and imagery that the opposition needs.
This is one of the reasons why Trump must federalize the D.C. Police and National Guard to strip the mayor of any instruments of enforcement or force. D.C. has a special legal status as the seat of the federal government, so Trump would not be abusing presidential authority. Trump should shut down the BLM staging area and set up a concentric series of layered perimeters extending several blocks beyond the White House in all directions. Federal authorities can use D.C. Police to enforce local anti-vagrancy laws to prevent encampments from turning into autonomous zones or worse.
Those preparations will deny the D.C. government the ability to permit any “siege” to take place, and empower Trump to protect the integrity of the White House, the neighboring Treasury and Veterans’ Affairs departments, and other federal facilities from what is certain to be a seething and violent mob encampment. Firehoses spiked with pepper spray, K9 units, sound cannons, and other methods will form the first extended layers of defense and limit bloody, military-style incidents and imagery that the opposition needs.