WEBVTT - Trump vs. DC: Inside the Takeover You’re Not Hearing About feat. Bridget Todd 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:07.160 Also media, Welcome to another episode if it can happen here. 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:10.600 I am your guest co host Bridget Todd, host of 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:11.840 There Are No Girls on the Internet. 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:13.120 I'm joined by the. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:17.840 Lovely Molly, host of award winning podcast on Pool Zone, 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:19.040 Weird Little Guys. 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:21.160 Molly, how you doing great? 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:22.960 Glad to be here in bridget Okay. 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.480 So I wish we were here to talk about all 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.640 the exciting stuff going on in your life. But I 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:30.840 wanted to bring this topic to the it could happen 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:32.560 here audience because I live. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:33.120 In the district. 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:35.239 I know you're a Virginia Gail, so you might know 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:36.920 a little bit more about how it works in the 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.519 district than your average person. But I don't know that 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:43.559 people really understand what is happening to residents of the 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.520 District of Columbia like myself. So I live in DC, 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:48.600 I've lived here for most of my life. I have 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.000 a lot of like hometown pride. This is not just 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.800 where I happen to live. It's like my city, my home. 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:54.560 Do you know what I mean? 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.240 And you don't have representation, It's true, right, It's something 0:00:58.280 --> 0:00:59.640 that infuriates me. 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:01.840 And so so you know, the first thing to know 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.000 about DC is that it's not a state. So that 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:07.880 means that what happens federally has a huge impact on 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.600 the day to day minutia of the life of people 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:12.600 like me who live in the district. If you don't 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.319 live in the district, when it comes to decisions about 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:19.800 how your like local tax dollars are spent, that usually 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.399 lies with like your state and local leaders. That's not 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:24.759 really the case for me and the other like over 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:27.920 half a million residents of the district. All of this 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:29.920 has made worse but the fact that we are essentially 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:33.240 disenfranchised just like you said, right, all of this stuff 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.520 is playing out in our home, like all of these 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.360 big national conversations are happening in our own backyard, and 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:42.160 we arguably have less electoral power and agency because we 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:42.800 aren't a state. 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:45.280 Fun fact, DC residents only. 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:47.520 Got the right to vote in nineteen sixty one in 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:51.840 presidential elections. What I know, Like I didn't know that 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.000 we have not been voting in presidential elections for very 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:55.920 long when you think about it, in the fullness of time. 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.600 So when people are like, oh, you know, call your 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.640 congress person, call you're lesson official to oppose X y 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.720 Z we really have like nobody to call our congressional representative, 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.519 Eleanor Holmes. Norton cannot vote on bills that are being 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.040 considered by the full House, and so we really just 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.799 like don't have us say whenever those big campaigns are 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:16.320 going on. I'm like, oh, it must be nice to 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.720 have even if that person ignores you, it must be 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:20.240 nice to have someone you can call. 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.720 Wouldn't know, it always seems disrespectful to be like, oh, yeah, 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:26.120 you guys, you guys have a representative. But it doesn't 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:29.120 do anything exactly. It's just vibes. 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:30.520 It's just vibes. 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.400 So all of this matters for Trump's return to my 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:38.040 hometown because as President, Trump has a lot more authority 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:40.880 to dictate how things are run locally for DC residents 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.520 like myself. You know, we all know that the Trump 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:46.480 administration is hell bent on making all of our lives worse. 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.359 But imagine if Trump was also in charge of how 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.880 your local police force in your city policed your city, 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:53.920 Like that would. 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.400 Be horrible, right, that sounds a good nightmare. 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.560 And that is that threat is like literally the reality 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.760 that we are here in DC. So there's been some 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.239 pretty big changes this time around in the Trump administration. 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:11.080 During his first administration, I feel like Trump largely ignored DC, 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:12.960 like he would pick a fight every now and then, 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:15.320 but he didn't really seem to meddle and how DC 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.200 was run like locally, that does not mean that he 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.200 was not like out in the district doing terrible things, 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.760 which he very much was. You might recall in twenty twenty, 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.680 during the racial Justice uprisings in the wake of George 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.600 Floyd's death, Trump cleared protesters using chemical agents so that 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:33.840 he could go out in front of Saint John's Church. 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.840 And like post upside down Bible, side down Bible. Remember 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:38.720 that distressing. 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.800 It was distressing. I was there that. 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:47.000 Day, and I'll say, like it was like genuinely very excessive. 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:49.400 I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of it, 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.280 but in the after mess of that event, internal reports 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:54.640 made it clear that like it wasn't exactly clear what 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.480 happened and under what authority, Like was it DC's local 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:01.640 police force, Metropolitan PD, was it Park Police? Like It 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:06.120 really underscored the tensions of DC locally versus the federal government. 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.720 And it doesn't help that there's half a dozen different 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.520 police forces operating on any given block of d C. 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:15.440 Oh my god, girl, Like you genuinely never know when 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:18.920 you see flashing blue and red lights, you genuinely is like, 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.800 this could be federal, Like this could be federal. 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.440 You never know if I just committed a federal traffic 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:25.719 violation exactly. 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.480 And so the New York Times actually described that event 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.800 as quote a burst of violence unlike any scene in 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.880 the shadow of the White House in generations, and possibly 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.400 one of the defining moments of the Trump presidency. And 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.640 so I remember that as like a moment that played 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:43.600 out nationally, but also it. 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:45.560 Felt very local and like I think it. 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:50.720 Underscored how we really felt the impacts of how militarized 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:54.400 the city could locally get during Trump's first administration. 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:56.880 So that was like something that really sticks out to me. 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.320 I mean, I I rarely visit d C because I'm 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.080 afraid of traffic, Like just the act of driving to 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:05.640 through northern Virginia too yet to d C is too 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:07.960 frightening for me, So I try not to go. But 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.400 I think people who don't live in the area don't 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:12.440 think of DC as a place where people live. They 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:14.880 don't think of it as anyone's home, right It's like 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:17.960 Congress lives there, the laws live there, but like a 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:20.840 lot of people live there, people who have nothing to 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.760 do with the federal government, mostly a lot of black people. Honestly, 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:24.599 I mean. 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:26.880 DC used to be called chocolate City for a reason. 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.240 These things were more like like a latte city. But exactly, 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:35.040 I can confirm that people don't think of the you know, 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.080 over half a million DC residents who have nothing to 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.719 do with the federal government, sometimes who nothing with politics, 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.159 who justike live here and is our home, Like I 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:45.560 was born in DC, like this is I didn't just 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.320 you know, move here to work in politics, like my 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:50.440 family can be traced back to our roots in the 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.599 district through generations. And so I have a be in 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.440 my bonnet about this because I feel very unseen, and 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.599 I think the way that the Trump administration is playing out, 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:05.160 I feel like the reporting really can sometimes overlook the 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.400 way that this is playing out in the lie the 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:11.240 life of your average you know, DC resident who might 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:12.919 have nothing to do with politics or you know, the 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:14.080 federal government. 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:15.760 Like seventh graders trying to get to middle school. 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:20.800 Exactly that exactly that so during Trump's first administration, after 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:22.880 the incident at Saint John's Church. 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.080 Our mayor, DC's Mayor, Muriel Bowser. She's still the mayor. 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:30.240 She's still the mayor. She's still the mayor. She's old 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:30.880 and strong. 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:36.200 She erected what became known as Black Lives Matter Plaza, 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.520 where she wrote black Lives Matter in like big yellow 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:40.960 letters outside of the White House. 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:41.479 You remember this. 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.640 I've had some unpleasant experiences in that zone. 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.880 Yes, yes, you and me both. This could be a 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:48.800 separate conversation. 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:51.560 And so I will say when she did that, it 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.000 was largely like a symbolic move, and a lot of 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:56.640 DC activists thought the mayor was kind of co opting 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.720 or racial justice ethos that she didn't really embody and practice. 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:02.479 But I do think that that really is at the 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:06.560 tone for the mayor's relationship with Trump during his first term. 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:08.680 Like she was defiant, she was someone who was going 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:11.920 to stand up to him publicly. And something to know 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.320 about DC's Mayor Muriel Bauser is that she kinda. 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:16.320 Has two modes. 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:20.080 Defiant like the version of herself that painted Black Lives 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.040 Matter outside of the Trump White House, and then sort 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:25.720 of diplomatic, right, like somebody who like wants to find 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.520 common ground, which I think is the is the version 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:30.640 of her that we're seeing this time around that is 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:33.720 very different than how she was the last time around, 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:37.080 Like she started trump second term sort of counting the 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:39.240 goals they have in common, and like she met with 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.400 him even before he was in office. And so I 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:45.160 have a lot of critiques about DC's marriage, like anybody 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:46.360 would have their political leader. 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:47.440 But I do think it is. 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.640 Important that folks understand that she is navigating something that 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:54.840 literally no other lected official in the United States has 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.040 to because of DC's lack of statehood. Like we our 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.120 city is uniquely threatened by Trump, and she knows this, 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.960 and Trump knows this, and so she really has to 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:07.840 like walk a tight rope, greased and shit if you will. 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:12.720 She's like navigating this public relationship with an unstable, lying 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:15.200 fascist and has to do so in a way that's 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:17.320 going to end up with like what's best for the city. 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:18.840 So you could say whatever you want. 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.640 About mayor Bouser, like I certainly do, but this is 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.120 a complicated thing to navigate. 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:26.720 I do not advocate. 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:30.400 For anybody complying in advance with a fascist, but in 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.600 this situation, I do think it's fair to ask life 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:36.760 well would being defiant toward Trump make things worse for 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:37.839 DC residents like. 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.280 Myself, but it results in martial law in the city. 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.280 Exactly exactly, So like I don't like it, but I 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.600 get it. I guess if there was like a mantra 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.000 for my feelings on this, it's like I don't like 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:49.000 it at all, but. 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:49.800 I get it. 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:50.960 It's a no win situation. 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:53.240 It is a no win situation. 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.160 And you know, Trump spent even when he was on 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.439 the campaign trail before he was president, he talked this 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:02.680 time around about how he was planning to take over 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.080 the city and because DC is on a state like, 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:08.640 any president does have the authority to interfere with how 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.280 DC is run. Like any president can take over the 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.559 police department and the powers of the mayor and in 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.640 the DC City Council. Any president has the power to 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:21.120 federalize DC's like local police force, metropolitan police, deputize the 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.600 National Guard, and give law enforcement powers in DC, and 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:28.120 activate the military and federal law enforcement agencies such as 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:29.440 the Park Police in DC. 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.640 So oh, I didn't need so, Like the governor of 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:34.839 any state has control of their national guard, but DC 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:36.840 has its own national guard, right correct? 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:37.760 And that you don't have. 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.160 A governor, so those are the President's national Guard. 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:40.600 Correct. 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:42.200 That's not great. 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.000 So it's not great. It's not great. 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.760 And you know the prospect of just just like let 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.720 that sink in, the prospect of Trump having its own 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.360 military and police force in the district. Like, I cannot 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.040 tell you how much this terrifies me. Like I cannot 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.400 stress to listeners how much of as shit hitting the 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.480 fan moment this would be for the city to give 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:03.560 you a sense, like I have a go bag, and 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:05.800 I like, get the fuck out plan for that scenario 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:06.360 playing out. 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.280 Virginia's so close you no, I mean yeah. 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.960 Honestly, anybody in the DMV, if you're in Maryland, Virginia, 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:24.760 you should all be thinking about this. The Trump has 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.200 continued to like pressure the mayor and threatening to like 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:30.640 take over if she will not do the things that 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.280 he says, things like clean up the city. 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.240 Trump notified Mayor Bowser that. 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.120 She has to clean up all the unsightly homeless encampments 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.040 in the district, especially around federal buildings. If she is 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.040 not capable of doing so, we will be forced to 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.480 do it for her, he said. And so far, her 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:49.520 strategy has really been one of like quiet appeasement, so 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:53.520 that Black Lives Matter plaza that she erected in defiance 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:55.920 during his first term that came down. 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:57.920 Did it really they'd painted over it. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.600 I think they paint they dismantle. I think that they 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:04.679 were like, Oh, we're going to like take it up 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:08.280 so that it can go someplace else, but we're removing 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.079 it from this part of the city, if that make sense. 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.720 That's I mean, that's a symbolic moment, right, just like 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.040 pouring the asphalt over the words black Lives Matter. 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.560 Yeah, And I do really think it it underscores this 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:21.160 moment that we're in right now. 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.640 Where it does? I mean, I'm curious for your thoughts. 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.240 It does sort of feel like a pendulum swing in 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:31.439 some ways where all of these like largely symbolic gestures 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:36.840 are now like being bulldozed over, oftentimes like voluntarily, like 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:39.080 without even really being pressured into doing so. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:39.840 Right. 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:42.120 I guess it's hard, right because like painting Black Lives 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.199 Matter on the sidewalk did nothing for black people, right, 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:48.160 Like did that help you to that materially improve your life? No, 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.199 it was purely symbolic. But negating that symbolic gesture I 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:54.640 think does a lot more harm than never having had 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.040 it right, because that is a that is an imposition 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:01.920 of of will over over. It was again a symbol 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.120 that did nothing and accomplished nothing and didn't actually help 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.719 anyone or change any situation. But taking the time out 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:11.360 of your day to bulldoze that symbol sends a strong message. 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:15.120 I feel the exact same way, and Republican Representative Andrew 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:17.680 Clyde actually wants it to go further. He introduced a 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.959 bill that would have amended the US Code to withhold 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.640 certain funds from DC unless Black Lives Matter was taken 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:28.320 off the street and that area was renamed quote Liberty 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.040 Plaza and for the district to remove all Black Lives 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.640 Matter Plaza references from city websites and official documents. So 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.120 they want to like memory hol it and be like 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:38.080 it never happened. 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.200 That's such cribyby bullshit too for the like these free 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.640 speech warriors right like, oh the facts, don't care about 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:45.400 your feelings. Free see the most important thing, like the 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:47.880 marketplace of ideas, Like I guess you can't compete in 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:49.040 the marketplace of ideas. 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.880 Buckoh exactly, Clyde said, quote it's time for our nation 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:55.679 to leave this failed agenda behind, starting with the removal 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.839 BLM Plaza from America's capital. Trump is what one hundred 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.320 percent right, we must clean up for the American people. 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.160 I believe that removing blm Plaza must be part of 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.720 this critical effort. After all, BLM is a radical defund 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:08.720 the police organization. 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.000 But we are not a defund the police nation. 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:13.680 So I know this. You know, clean up the city 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.599 rhetoric is sort of fascist in and of itself, like 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.240 that that's scary rhetor regardless, but pairing it with like 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:21.880 back to back in the same breath, like we have 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:23.200 to clean up the city, we have to get rid 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.280 of BLM plaza. Like are you saying being reminded that 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.800 black people have civil liberties is dirty to you? That 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.040 that's what's making the city dirty is the black people. 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:34.120 I would argue that's exactly what he's saying. 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.800 But DC is like getting upset about black people. It's 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:38.679 like go into the beach and getting upset with when 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:40.920 they're sand right. It's like, we could have a whole 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.960 conversation about DC's demographics, but like a, we are. 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:46.120 A black city, like that is what makes DC what 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:46.360 it is? 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.280 Is like why I continue to live here, right, So, like, 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:51.840 I think that's exactly what he's saying, is we don't 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:55.240 want our nation's capital to be one that honors the 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.000 you know, agency of black people, black bodies, and black lives. 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:00.800 Right, Like, I think that's like what he said, then 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:02.679 moved the White House to South Boston. I guess I 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.600 don't know what to tell you. 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.880 So, you know, the mayor pretty quickly relented and bielm 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.440 plazas no more. She basically said, like, you know, we've 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:16.040 got bigger fish to fry, like focusing on DC's autonomy 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:18.400 and budget, and to be honest, like a lot of 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:20.760 residents agreed with her that like it probably was not 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:21.400 worth the fight. 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.520 That's kind of that's kind of the theme here is. 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:27.480 That all of these little things that individually are probably 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:30.640 not worth the fight, but then collectively you're like, well. 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:32.080 Who is sort of in charge of this city? 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.320 You know, when if none of these little things are 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:35.720 worth the fight? Are you fighting? 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.000 That's a great question. Are you fighting? If nothing is 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:40.440 worth the fight? Are you fighting? 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:42.560 And I feel like that's kind of I don't know, 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.320 on a larger scale, sort of the National Democratic Party's 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:48.240 line has always been. We got to keep her power dry. 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:49.960 We gotta keep her power dry, keep it drive for 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.440 fucking what dog right, You're gonna end the war, you know, 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:55.360 with the pile of bodies and a bunch of dry powder. 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:56.680 Exactly. 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.120 So the next demand that Trump made a bows Or 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.320 was the need to clear homeless encampments near the White House, 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.200 saying that if Bowser didn't do it, he would. 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:06.000 Be forced to do it for her. 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.920 So within hours of Trump's call to Bowser, DC city 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.800 crews arrived at these encampments to tell residents they had 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.840 to be out the next day. It's not great, like, 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.200 to be clear, it is not like our mayor does 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:21.480 not clear encampments in DC. In fact, her administration said 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:23.520 they have been planning to clear the encampment in question, 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.200 but just doing so in like a more planned, rolled 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.280 out way. So it's not like she's like someone who 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:32.600 is not, you know, down with clearing encampments. The Washington 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.320 Post spoke to some of the people who were residents 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.200 of those encampments when they were cleared. Shelley Byer's is 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.120 someone they spoke to who has been chronically homeless in 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.400 DC for three years. She was living at an encampment 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:44.520 that was cleared in twenty twenty three before winding up 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:46.680 at the one that Trump wanted cleared, and she said 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.320 they were basically given no notice that they needed to vacate. 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.000 She said, now we have only less than twenty four 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:54.080 hours to get out, as she threw her clothing out 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:54.520 of her tent. 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:55.480 I liked it here. 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.440 They keep shoving us off from place to place, making 0:15:57.480 --> 0:15:59.560 it so we don't have anywhere to go. The post 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.040 also to the president of Miriam's Kitchen, which is a 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:05.160 big nonprofit here in DC that provides services for the homeless, 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:07.960 and he said that it wasn't even clear, like he 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.160 wasn't even sure if the city followed proper protocols with 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:15.600 this hasty encampment clearing at Trump's direction. Encampment residents are 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.320 meant to be given two weeks notice, but people who 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.600 were cleared so that they only learned about that action 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:23.920 within twenty four hours. And so I think that's part 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:28.240 of the issue here. DC, like any city, has issues 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:32.240 like crime and homelessness, but like hitting people housed takes time, 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.200 like just wanting to quickly move people who might have 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.840 anywhere else to go because they look as Trump said, 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.120 unseemly or unsightly is not solving the problem. What you're 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:44.440 actually doing is just traumatizing people who are already vulnerable 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:46.880 and then forcing them to go elsewhere, exactly like that 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:47.840 woman told the post. 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.120 Really, even in the best case scenario, even the most 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.280 organized clearing of an encampment is I mean, it's violent, 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.920 and it's inhumane, and it doesn't really serve a greater 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:59.520 purpose other than I don't know, so that people don't 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:01.800 have to think about homelessness on their way to work. 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:03.800 But there is a way to do it that is, 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:09.880 at least theoretically could result in something that is not monstrous, 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:11.199 you know what I mean. Like I said, there's no 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:13.560 good way to clear an encampment unless you're giving everyone 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:16.399 an apartment. But right like, you're giving people two weeks notice, 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.080 let's social services get involved, lets them go, you know, 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:21.640 tent to tent for those two weeks, talking to people 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:24.760 about where they could go, giving them options, connecting them 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.480 with services if that's what they choose. But if you're 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.000 just rolling up overnight and throwing people's show a way, 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:31.880 you're not You're not solving a problem. You're not even 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:33.399 trying to solve a problem. You're not even pretending that 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:34.600 you're trying to solve a problem. 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.440 But I think that's exactly how Trump thinks about this issue. 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.719 It's just like looks bad and unseemly to him. So 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:43.159 I don't care where they go. I don't care how 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:45.680 you do it, just I don't want to be looking. 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:47.720 At them, right, because for him, it's not about getting 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.240 these people connected to services so that they might eventually 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:52.480 find stable housing. It's about I don't want to fucking 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.440 see these people because they're gross, exactly. 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:58.000 And like he is encroaching on how our city is run, right, 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.359 and so like if that is the ethos that you have, 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:02.040 I don't want to see these gross people. I don't 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:04.440 care where they go. This is not an ethos that 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.600 that responsibly is able to run a city like that. 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:11.359