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Raphael Warnock, both a senator and a pastor, reflected on how he was asked to deliver a closing address at an annual congressional dinner in Washington. “Since we’re meeting at what used to be the Trump International Hotel,” he mused, “maybe it’s an exorcism.”
That was last year, when the ghost of Donald Trump was seemingly banished from the nation’s capital for good. But like all the best horror films, there will be a sequel. Next month, Trump will return to a city he has openly discredited – the feeling is generally mutual – when he is inaugurated as the 47th US president.
Trump lost the Republican primary to Nikki Haley in the District of Columbia. He lost the presidential election there to Democrat Kamala Harris by 86 percentage points. Yet he has vowed to radically overhaul the capital, threatened its political autonomy and recruited billionaire Elon Musk to destroy the federal workforce.
Sally Quinn, an author, journalist and socialite, said: “The mood is quite grim. People are depressed. I had dinner last night with some people from Washington and I would say everyone was very subdued and there wasn’t much merriment or celebration. I don’t know anyone who is in the Christmas spirit right now.”
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During his first term, Trump, a New Yorker and now Florida resident, never really embraced Washington, a city of about 700,000 that was home to abolitionist Frederick Douglass, singer Marvin Gaye and comedian Dave Chappelle.
During his presidency, the only DC restaurant he visited was his own, and he ordered a well-done steak with ketchup at BLT Prime at the Trump International Hotel, a quarter mile from the White House. He has since sold the hotel and the new restaurant is run by José Andrés, a Spanish-American chef and outspoken Trump critic.
The former president rejected the Washington rituals. He was the only president never to attend the annual Kennedy Center Honors. He also skipped the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner. In late 2019, Trump watched the Washington Nationals in the baseball World Series but was met with loud boos and chants of “Lock him up!” and “Impeach Trump!”
In 2020, Washington was shaken by the coronavirus pandemic and Black Lives Matter protesters. Tear gas was fired at nearby peaceful protesters outside the White House before Trump staged a photo opportunity with a Bible outside a church. DC responded by painting “Black Lives Matter” on a nearby street and creating Black Lives Matter Plaza.
Then came his defeat in the presidential election. At first the city erupted with joy and people celebrated in the streets. It was then stunned by the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol, which left five dead. Washington was reeling, but two weeks later saw Trump leave the White House and assumed he was gone for good.
Quinn reflected, “This is a Democratic city. People are in shock and disbelief and trying to understand: how do you get over January 6? What did the Democrats do wrong that was so much worse than January 6? What have the Democrats done that hasn’t appealed to people? As an elected president you have an indicted criminal. How is that possible?”
Now that the Trump hotel is under new ownership, it remains to be seen where his allies and supporters will gather. Quinn remembers some gathering at Cafe Milano in Georgetown, much to the dismay of locals. “One night there were about ten Trump people there and the buzz throughout the room was so big that I felt like everyone was going to get up and sing ‘La Marseillaise’ like they did at Rick’s Café in Casablanca .”
Trump’s return also has huge implications for the way DC governs itself. The district has always lacked state autonomy. It was granted limited self-government by the Home Rule Act in 1973, but Congress still essentially controls all DC laws and can overturn them outright.
During his first term, Trump threatened to federalize D.C. police, deployed the National Guard against protesters and expressed a desire to control city functions such as road repair. During his campaign, he expressed disdain for the city, raising fears of a possible escalation during his second term.
Trump repeatedly promised to “take over” the city and usurp local government authority. Last August, when he briefly came to town to plead not guilty to charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, Trump mocked the capital on social media, calling it a “filthy and crime-ridden disgrace to our nation”. He has long condemned it as “the swamp.”
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George Derek Musgrove, co-author of Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital, suggests there are two Washingtons in Trump’s imagination. “One is the place where only lobbyists, lawyers, Hill staffers and federal regulators live. He sees those people as parasitic: if we got rid of them, we could have a much more functional democracy.
“On the contrary, he also sees the neighborhood where real people live, but those people are poor, black and very criminal. Those are two DCs that he and the Republicans of the House of Representatives have presented to the country and both have a national political function. They are a way to portray the Democratic party as part of the deep state and side with criminals over duped law-abiding citizens.”
Trump has appointed Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to a Department of Government Efficiency designed to save money by shrinking the federal government — an effort that could jeopardize the jobs of thousands of workers in Washington and nearby Maryland and Virginia. could endanger. The president-elect has also pledged to dismantle the Ministry of Education.
Musgrove, an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said: “When you talk about the fear of the incoming Trump administration, it’s twofold. One of these is the attacks on democracy in the district. The other is the real fear that his plans to cut the federal workforce will fall disproportionately on us and cause economic pain in the District.”
Republicans in Congress have become increasingly aggressive in using their power to override DC laws, cut the budget and target liberal policies on criminal justice, marijuana legalization and abortion. Andrew Clyde, a congressman from Georgia, has proposed repealing the Home Rule Act entirely, while Andy Ogles, a congressman from Tennessee, has publicly discussed abolishing the office of mayor of DC.
The current mayor, Muriel Bowser, was a thorn in Trump’s side the first time. But she and other local officials are looking for ways to work with the Trump administration on issues like bringing federal workers back to the office. Unlike Democratic state governors, who are already coordinating how to oppose Trump on issues like immigration, the mayor’s reach is limited.
Meagan Hatcher-Mays, a senior advisor to United for Democracy, a coalition of more than 140 organizations, said: “We have a Democratic mayor, but we are not a state and so the federal government can interfere in our local politics and our local politics. make decisions in a way that is not possible with the states. Whether Trump is physically here or not, we are in for a bumpy ride with many of his policy makers and administration.”
Hatcher Mays also warned that DC could also prove to be a laboratory for Project 2025, a radical policy blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. “Virtually everything in Project 2025 that they might not be able to get through Congress to become national could become a reality and apply exclusively to D.C..”
Republicans’ sweep of the White House and both chambers of Congress also dealt a blow to DC’s long-running campaign for statehood. Advocates argue this is the only way to guarantee full democratic rights for D.C. residents, who pay federal taxes but have no voting representation. However, Republicans are strongly opposed to the idea of adding two senators who are likely to be Democrats.
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Paul Strauss, the “shadow” senator for DC who does get a vote in the Senate chamber, admitted: “We are on the defensive. Most of what I expect to do over the next two years is defend attacks on DC autonomy without a majority in both chambers. There won’t be much chance to advance a bill. We’re going to try to preserve what little self-determination we have left.”
D.C.’s storied culture includes the Washington Post, a newspaper founded in 1877 and famous for its investigation of the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. The first Trump term was embroiled in a good old-fashioned newspaper war with the New York Times over a seemingly endless series of revelations about his administration.
But since then, the Post has suffered heavy financial losses, job cuts and reports that its publisher, Will Lewis, tried to pressure Post staff into not reporting on whether he was involved more than a decade ago in covering up crimes at the British newspaper Rupert Murdoch. tabloid newspapers. The newspaper, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, refused to endorse a candidate for president, reportedly prompting more than 250,000 readers to cancel their subscriptions.
Hatcher-Mays noted: “This is not a blow to the reporters who work at the Post. I know they are independent and all great, but it’s going to be an uphill climb reporting on the various misdeeds of this government when the owner of your newspaper is more interested in playing footy with a person who has been impeached twice , who is charged and has no interest in the product of democracy.”
During his first term, Trump spent many weekends at his clubs in Florida or New Jersey, but when in Washington he was often driven to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, where he played rounds. An accompanying group of reporters would kill time at Lucia’s, an Italian restaurant nearby.
The owner, David Hackett, is preparing for their return after a four-year hiatus and prefers not to reveal his political loyalties. “It was definitely a nice Saturday and Sunday boost,” he said. “I look forward to the journalists coming back. That may be the only plus point of the whole deal for me.”
