Trump threatens to take over D.C. if voters elect progressive mayor

President Donald Trump said he would take over the nation’s capital if Janeese Lewis George, a progressive candidate for the District of Columbia’s mayor, wins the upcoming Democratic primary.

Trump’s comment represents a grave threat to the democratic process and the ability of D.C. residents, who lack formal representation in Congress, to govern their own local affairs.

Asked Thursday how he would feel if Lewis George, a self-described democratic socialist, emerged victorious in next week’s Democratic mayoral primary race, Trump said he wouldn’t like it and said he would punish the district in retaliation.

“Maybe we’ll take back Washington,” Trump said. “Run it on a federal basis. We won’t put up with it.”

Because Washington is an overwhelmingly Democratic city, the winner of the Democratic primary is almost guaranteed to win the general election.

Lewis George, who is a D.C. councilmember, said in a statement Thursday that Trump’s comment was an assault on the Home Rule Act of 1973, which gave residents the ability to elect their mayor and council members.

“We are not going to protect our rights or Home Rule by obeying in advance,” she said. “Threatening Home Rule because you do not like how residents vote is an attack on democracy itself.”

Trump’s threat, though alarming, was largely an empty one, as only Congress could place D.C. under the federal government’s direct control by repealing the act.

Democrats would block any attempt to do so, especially those in the Senate, where a repeal effort would need to get past the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster threshold. 

Last year, the president’s effort to greatly expand the federal government’s control over the district under the pretense of combating allegedly out-of-control crime largely failed. 

A federal judge blocked his illegal takeover of local police, although his deployment of thousands of National Guard troops in the district is ongoing at the cost of tens of millions of dollars each month.

Rather than subduing the nation’s capital, Trump’s actions in D.C. over the past year and a half have reignited a decades-long push for statehood for the district, which Lewis George supports.

Kenyan McDuffie, Lewis George’s main competitor in Tuesday’s primary, also denounced Trump’s threat in a statement, saying “DC decides who will be the next mayor, not Donald Trump.”

“As Mayor, I’ll fight tooth and nail to protect Home Rule and defend against MAGA federal overreach,” McDuffie added.