US President Donald Trump on Thursday toured a US Park Police operations hub in Southeast Washington, where he praised police officers and National Guard members deployed as part of his high-profile anti-crime operation in the nation’s capital.Speaking to around 300 officers and troops, Trump claimed the federal surge was transforming the city. “We’re not playing games. We’re going to make it safe, and we’re going to then go on to other places. But we’re going to stay here for a while. We want to make this absolutely perfect. It’s our capital,” he said, according to the Washington Post.Trump, joined by attorney general Pam Bondi, homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, and interior secretary Doug Burgum, praised the joint force of FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and local police. He distributed pizzas and hamburgers during the visit, telling officers, “You got to be strong, you got to be tough. You got to do your job. Whatever it takes to do your job,” as reported by ABC News.The president has touted the deployment as a “test” for similar crackdowns in other Democratic-led cities, hinting Memphis could be among the next. Earlier this month, he assumed direct control of the DC police force and authorised nearly 2,000 guardsmen from DC and six Republican-led states to reinforce patrols, as per news agency AP.Officials said Guard members, so far unarmed, are helping manage crowds, secure perimeters and briefly detain suspects until handed to police. Since the surge began on 7 August, more than 600 arrests have been made, including over 250 undocumented migrants, according to the White House.Critics, however, point to crime statistics showing violent crime has fallen to a 30-year low in the city. Mayor Muriel Bowser argued the federal action is “politically motivated,” saying local police had already been “consistently driving down crime for the last two years”, as quoted by the Washington Post.Despite suggesting in a radio interview that he would patrol with law enforcement, Trump returned to the White House after the 35-minute stop. Still, he vowed to expand the campaign and said, “We’re going to have the best capital ever. It’s going to look better than it ever did,” he said, even promising to re-grass parks and remove graffiti, claiming, “I know more about grass than any human being,” according to news agency AFP.The show of force has drawn protests in some neighbourhoods, with demonstrators banging pots and pans or mocking officials. Yet Trump insisted, “Everybody feels safe now. Everybody’s safe. Everybody feels safe,” while dismissing accusations of authoritarianism.
