Republican governors are under fire for sending National Guard troops to Washington to aid Trump’s agenda while violent crime remains higher in their own cities.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and other Republican leaders are facing criticism for deploying National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to back President Trump’s crime crackdown while violent crime persists in their own states. Memphis, Nashville, Houston, Cleveland, and St. Louis all have higher violent crime rates than the capital, according to FBI statistics.
Critics argue that the deployments, funded by the federal government at about $1 million a day, highlight a political divide. “The federal government almost never does anything based on pure statistics,” said Adam Gelb, president of the Council on Criminal Justice. “No administration would just look at a chart and go straight down the list.”
Trump, asked if federal troops could be sent to Republican-led states with high crime, replied, “Sure, but there aren’t that many.” Experts countered that the strategy appears designed to target political opponents, not reduce crime.
Washington’s Mayor Muriel Bowser, initially critical, credited the troops with “more accountability” and reduced carjackings. Meanwhile, 19 Democratic governors condemned Trump’s deployments as “an alarming abuse of power.”