President Donald Trump has condemned the District ofColumbia as a crime-ridden hellhole. He’s warned that “caravans of mass youth rampage through city streets,” and that the district’s murder rate is higher than “theworst places on Earth.”

More than 2,200 National Guard troops now rove the streets of the nation’s capital, at a cost of more than $1 million per day.

In truth, violent crime in D.C. is at a 30-year low, and Trump's real goal with his occupation of DC is to suppress resistance, not combat crime.

Washington Monthly Legal Affairs Editor spoke with Contributing Editor James Fallows about what life is really like in an occupied DC: Empty streets and an atmosphere. of fear. Chapters

00:00 The Current Mood in Washington, D.C.

11:42 Home Rule and Its Limits in D.C.

21:39 The Future of D.C. and Its Challenges