Trump says his deployment of federal law enforcement is about restoring order in Washington, D.C. But the real message isn’t about crime—it’s about power. By federalizing the District’s police, activating the National Guard, and bulldozing homeless encampments with just a day’s notice, Trump is flexing a new kind of presidential muscle: the authority to override local governments at will—a move that raises serious constitutional concerns.
And now, he promises that D.C. won’t be the last. New York, Chicago, Philadelphia—cities he derides as “crime-ridden”—could be next. Noticeably absent from his list are red-state cities with higher homicide rates, like New Orleans. The pattern is clear: Trump’s law-and-order agenda is less about public safety and more about partisan punishment.
In effect, it represents a dramatic inversion of federalism and reshapes the balance of power. For over two centuries, local control over policing and public safety has been a core principle of American governance, respected by presidents of both parties. Ronald Reagan refrained from intervening in New York’s crime crisis, preferring to let state and city officials address it. Barack Obama left local officials in charge during Ferguson’s unrest in 2014. To find parallels to Trump’s approach, one must look abroad—to authoritarian leaders like Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, or Vladimir Putin in Russia—where centralized crackdowns on cities are a common tactic of strongman rule.
Selective Enforcement and Political Targets
Trump’s crackdown reveals a selective pattern. Crime statistics show that some of the cities he names are not the nation’s most violent. Washington ranked fourth in homicide rates last year, while Chicago and New York were far lower. Meanwhile, St. Louis and New Orleans—both with higher homicide rates—escaped his attention. The common thread isn’t safety but partisanship: he singles out Democratic strongholds while sparing cities in red states. In doing so, Trump reframes public safety as a partisan test of loyalty rather than a matter of governance.
This is troubling because public safety has long been a shared responsibility, with local governments closest to their communities making the key decisions. By federalizing this function selectively, Trump shifts the emphasis from community safety to political punishment. Ordinary residents—people concerned about schools, housing, and neighborhood policing—become pawns in a national feud rather than citizens whose well-being is the priority.
If presidents can target opponents’ cities while ignoring allies’ failures, federalism becomes less about constitutional balance and more about partisan advantage. Even if future presidents avoid this path, the precedent itself erodes constraints on the office. Over time, that erosion can normalize the idea that cities are bargaining chips in presidential politics. Communities become pieces in a national political game, and their residents become collateral in a struggle for executive dominance.
Congress and the Erosion of Checks
Many of the same GOP voices now cheering Trump’s federalization moves once denounced far smaller assertions of executive power by Democratic presidents. Republicans railed against Barack Obama’s use of executive actions on immigration policy, such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). They also criticized Joe Biden’s attempts at student debt relief as unconstitutional overreach. The contrast underscores how partisan convenience often dictates whether lawmakers view presidential assertiveness as tyranny or necessary leadership.
What makes this shift especially dangerous is Congress’s silence. GOP lawmakers have cheered Trump’s actions as necessary to “restore order,” while Democrats have offered little resistance. By doing so, they weaken their own institution and normalize executive overreach into local functions that the Constitution never intended the presidency to control. Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise both praised the federalization of D.C.’s police, while Democratic opposition remained muted and fragmented.
This problem is compounded by selective enforcement. When presidents push boundaries and Congress fails to respond, temporary excesses risk becoming permanent norms. Each time Congress defers, it cedes more ground to the White House, setting a precedent that future presidents of either party can exploit. When lawmakers abandon their constitutional duty to check the executive, the balance of power tilts further toward an overmighty presidency, leaving local democracy exposed.
Consequences for Citizens and Cities
For citizens, the implications are not abstract. When federal authority displaces local control, it is ordinary residents who feel the disruption most directly. In Washington, the clearing of homeless encampments with only a day’s notice left vulnerable people scrambling for shelter and services. In cities like New York or Chicago, a federal takeover could mean policies imposed by distant officials who lack an understanding of neighborhood realities. Public safety decisions risk turning into political theater instead of policies grounded in community needs. The result is a hollowing out of local democracy, where residents lose both voice and agency in the issues closest to home.
This shift also corrodes trust. Past examples show how blurred accountability undermines confidence. During Hurricane Katrina, disputes between federal, state, and local authorities left residents uncertain who was responsible for failures in relief efforts. More recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicting state and federal directives left citizens confused about who was in charge of testing, lockdowns, and vaccine rollouts. Citizens expect local leaders—mayors, city councils, police chiefs—to be accountable for safety and services. If those responsibilities are usurped by the White House, accountability blurs. Communities may feel they have no recourse when policies are heavy-handed or ineffective, deepening cynicism about government at every level.
Conclusion: Restoring the Balance
The danger in Trump’s actions is not just what he has done in Washington but the precedent they set for the presidency itself. Once federal takeovers of local functions are normalized, the constitutional safeguards meant to protect citizens from centralized power become weaker, no matter who occupies the White House. Local democracy erodes not in a single stroke but in the steady expansion of executive authority into spaces where it does not belong.
If American democracy is to remain resilient, Congress must reassert its constitutional role. Citizens must also demand accountability. They cannot remain passive when presidents overstep. Lawmakers could start by reining in the use of executive orders, strengthening limits on emergency declarations, and clarifying boundaries for federal involvement in local policing. Courts and state governments can also reinforce limits on federal intrusion. The alternative is a presidency where cities are pawns, communities are silenced, and local self-government—the very foundation of federalism—is reduced to a relic of the past.
Robert Cropf is a professor of political science at Saint Louis University.


















photo courtesy of Michael Varga.
An Independent Voter's Perspective on Current Political Divides
In the column, "Is Donald Trump Right?", Fulcrum Executive Editor, Hugo Balta, wrote:
For millions of Americans, President Trump’s second term isn’t a threat to democracy—it’s the fulfillment of a promise they believe was long overdue.
Is Donald Trump right?
Should the presidency serve as a force for disruption or a safeguard of preservation?
Balta invited readers to share their thoughts at newsroom@fulcrum.us.
David Levine from Portland, Oregon, shared these thoughts...
I am an independent voter who voted for Kamala Harris in the last election.
I pay very close attention to the events going on, and I try and avoid taking other people's opinions as fact, so the following writing should be looked at with that in mind:
Is Trump right? On some things, absolutely.
As to DEI, there is a strong feeling that you cannot fight racism with more racism or sexism with more sexism. Standards have to be the same across the board, and the idea that only white people can be racist is one that I think a lot of us find delusional on its face. The question is not whether we want equality in the workplace, but whether these systems are the mechanism to achieve it, despite their claims to virtue, and many of us feel they are not.
I think if the Democrats want to take back immigration as an issue then every single illegal alien no matter how they are discovered needs to be processed and sanctuary cities need to end, every single illegal alien needs to be found at that point Democrats could argue for an amnesty for those who have shown they have been Good actors for a period of time but the dynamic of simply ignoring those who break the law by coming here illegally is I think a losing issue for the Democrats, they need to bend the knee and make a deal.
I think you have to quit calling the man Hitler or a fascist because an actual fascist would simply shoot the protesters, the journalists, and anyone else who challenges him. And while he definitely has authoritarian tendencies, the Democrats are overplaying their hand using those words, and it makes them look foolish.
Most of us understand that the tariffs are a game of economic chicken, and whether it is successful or not depends on who blinks before the midterms. Still, the Democrats' continuous attacks on the man make them look disloyal to the country, not to Trump.
Referring to any group of people as marginalized is to many of us the same as referring to them as lesser, and it seems racist and insulting.
We invite you to read the opinions of other Fulrum Readers:
Trump's Policies: A Threat to Farmers and American Values
The Trump Era: A Bitter Pill for American Renewal
Federal Hill's Warning: A Baltimorean's Reflection on Leadership
Also, check out "Is Donald Trump Right?" and consider accepting Hugo's invitation to share your thoughts at newsroom@fulcrum.us.
The Fulcrum will select a range of submissions to share with readers as part of our ongoing civic dialogue.
We offer this platform for discussion and debate.