President Donald Trump loves to hate Washington, D.C., but says he will revitalize the city in order to make the nation’s capital a place that visitors and voters can be proud of.
“We will take over the horribly run capital of our nation in Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it and rebuild our capital city so there is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime,” Trump said in July.
“It will become the most beautiful capital anywhere in the world,” he added. “Right now, if you leave Florida — ‘Let’s go, darling. Let’s look at the Jefferson Memorial, let’s look at the Washington Monument. Let’s go and look at some of the beautiful scenes,’ and you end up getting shot, mugged, raped.”
Now back in the White House, the president may be looking to implement that vision. Trump has pledged that the GOP will “reassert greater federal control” over the city, bring down crime, scrub graffiti, and make sure federal buildings and monuments are well-maintained.
Taking things a step further, Trump is expected to issue an executive order looking to increase penalties for crimes and clear homeless encampments, according to the Washington Post. Not only would doing so fulfill a campaign pledge, Trump is already prepping to celebrate the semi quincentennial in 2026, marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Some local officials are cautiously embracing those plans. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has pledged to work with Trump and even flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with him in December.
“President Trump and I both want Washington, D.C., to be the best, most beautiful city in the world and we want the capital city to reflect the strength of our nation,” she said upon leaving. “We discussed areas for collaboration between local and federal government, especially around our federal workforce, underutilized federal buildings, parks and green spaces, and infrastructure.”
A big step that both leaders embrace is bringing federal workers back into the office five days a week. Trump has already moved in that direction with a day-one executive order, which has boosted traffic in Washington and could revive a moribund business climate downtown. Bowser has made similar calls in the past, pleading her case to the Biden administration as early as 2023.
The mayor’s office and White House did not respond to questions from the Washington Examiner.
For the federal workforce inside the Beltway, however, Trump’s arrival in town feels more like an apocalypse than an act of revival. While many of them oppose being dragged back to the office, they’re much more upset about the idea of losing their jobs.
The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has targeted a range of agencies, most recently the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for buyout offers and potential staffing cuts, sparking concerns that the Trump administration is trying to dismantle the federal government.
Democrats have responded by protesting outside of federal office buildings, including the Treasury Department, Labor Department, Capitol, Department of Education, and U.S. Agency for International Development.
On a snowy Tuesday in downtown Washington, they protested outside of the Commerce Department, where NOAA is housed. The protest centered heavily on Musk and the climate-related work NOAA performs, but economic concerns surfaced as well.
“We want rain predictions for the people, Elon Musk wants to make it rain money for his pockets,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) said at the rally. “DOGE wants to cut NOAA’s staff in half. Those are the workers who keep your children and pets safe from toxins at the shore in blue and red states alike.”
Attendees lofted signs reading “Launch Musk into orbit” and “Stop DOGE, Save NOAA.”
Craig McLain, a former NOAA chief scientist, acknowledged that it’s important to promote government efficiency and streamline the work of various agencies, but said “this is not the way to do it.” He predicted any purging of federal workers will harm not only D.C. but the wider region.
“There are a lot of people who work here in the D.C. area, in Maryland, Virginia, and beyond, even West Virginia,” McLain told the Washington Examiner. “There’s an economic impact for the small businesses that normally support these folks. And when those folks aren’t here, where do those businesses go? They go away.”
While Democrats have made Musk the center of their messaging, with Markey calling Trump his “puppet president,” Trump shows no signs of wavering. Musk joined him in the Oval Office to sign an executive order solidifying DOGE’s power and backing his “workforce optimization initiative.”
“The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get,” Musk, who was accompanied by his son X, said Tuesday. “That’s what democracy is all about.”
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While that type of language may not play well with the workforce in Washington, it is likely to remain popular in the rest of the country regardless of the impact on the local economy, argues Republican strategist John Feehery.
“Pick your enemies carefully,” he said. “The federal bureaucracy is a smart enemy to fight with. Most Americans have no idea what goes on in those buildings or why they are paying for it.”
