Stop Trump’s Authoritarian Takeover of D.C.

President Donald Trump has ordered a sweeping National Guard deployment into Washington, D.C., seizing control of local policing and bypassing the city’s elected leaders. Under the guise of fighting crime, this unprecedented move hands federal power over community safety directly to the White House — stripping D.C. residents of their democratic right to self-governance.

Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C.’s own Metropolitan Police Department were given no real choice: comply with Trump’s order or face the threat of federal takeover. This is not about public safety. This is about consolidating power and silencing a majority-Black city that has consistently rejected Trump’s politics.

This is a dangerous escalation of authoritarianism that sets a precedent for using military forces against any city that disagrees with Trump. Legal experts agree: the Constitution does not grant the president unchecked authority to override local governments without cause. Yet Trump has done exactly that — and has already floated plans to expand similar deployments nationwide.

This crackdown is also a warning shot to communities everywhere. If Trump can override local law enforcement in the nation’s capital, he can do it anywhere — in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or your hometown.

We must stand with D.C. now — not just to protect its residents, but to defend the principle that communities should control their own safety, free from political manipulation.

Sign the petition and demand that Congress end Trump’s National Guard takeover of Washington, D.C., and protect our democracy from creeping authoritarian rule.