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** OPINION
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** Trump called DC dangerous. Journalists cited data showing crime is down.
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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters at the White House on Monday, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi look on. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

On MSNBC Monday morning, the following graphic appeared on one-half of the screen ([link removed]) :

Overall violent crime is down 4.5% in the United States and down 26% in Washington D.C. Homicides are down 14.9% in the U.S. and 12% in D.C. Robberies are down 8.9% in the U.S. and 28% in D.C.

But on the other half of the screen was President Donald Trump at a press conference announcing that Washington police would fall under federal control and that he was deploying 800 members of the National Guard in an attempt to supposedly reduce crime.

Trump said, “We’re going to take our capital back.”

In a press conference that at times seemed to veer off into one of his campaign rallies, Trump said, “It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness, and we’re getting rid of the slums, too.” He later called the city “unsafe,” “dirty” and “disgusting.”

Trump was flanked by some of his administration's most visible cohorts, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, FBI Director Kash Patel and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. (Politico’s Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein have a good review ([link removed]) of what authority Trump does and does not have in this matter.)

As Trump was spewing his rhetoric about lawlessness and chaos without actual facts, news organizations stepped up with real numbers that showed crime is down in D.C. and many major cities.

Besides MSNBC fact-checking Trump in real time, The Washington Post’s Michael Birnbaum and Perry Stein wrote ([link removed]) , “Violent crime is down 26 percent compared with this time in 2024, according to D.C. police data. Homicides are down 12 percent. D.C. police have made about 900 juvenile arrests this year — almost 20 percent fewer than during the same time frame last year. About 200 of those charges are for violent crimes, and at least four dozen are for carjacking.”

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement, “The Administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful. There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year. We are considering all of our options and will do what’s necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents.”

So what sparked Trump’s move? Well, it allows him to reestablish his tough-on-crime agenda in a big, showy way that likely will draw more attention than achieve actual results. And, if you want to be really skeptical, it drove Jeffrey Epstein out of the headlines for a day.

Then again, many are pointing to what happened last week when a former prominent member of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency was injured in an alleged carjacking in Washington.

“But on Monday,” The New York Times wrote ([link removed]) , “he sought to lay out an even darker version of the city, overrun by violent crime and anarchy, that many who live in it are unlikely to recognize.”

The Times, again taking on the role of responsible media, put everything into context and held Trump accountable by writing, “In portraying crime as out of control in cities across the country, he listed familiar targets like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago but did not mention cities in Republican-led states with the highest murder rates: Memphis, St. Louis or New Orleans. He also ignored the most violent episode in Washington’s recent history: the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, where his supporters sought to stop the certification of the 2020 election he lost. Mr. Trump pardoned hundreds of rioters, many of whom had already been convicted of crimes and were serving sentences before being immediately released in January.”

CNN’s Dana Bash said on the air during a panel discussion, “I should note that the most violent moment in recent history in D.C. was Jan. 6. And it was an attack on the United States Capitol by a lot of people who were doing it in the name of Donald Trump and the people who were hurt included members of law enforcement.”

While Trump may have some authority to take over Washington, D.C., at least in the short term, he also hinted that other cities are in his sights for federal control — something he might not actually be able to do. In his press conference, he mentioned Los Angeles, Baltimore, Oakland, New York and Chicago. He called them “bad, very bad,” but didn’t offer any data or specifics.

So good job by Axios’ Josephine Walker to offer data and specifics ([link removed]) . Walker went through each city that Trump mentioned and reported how crime — most notably homicides and violent crimes — were down in each one.

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** Facts of the matter
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Poynter’s PolitiFact did a deep dive on Trump’s press conference: “Trump exaggerates Washington, DC, crime while ordering police takeover and National Guard deployment.” ([link removed])

In a sentence that perfectly sums it up, PolitiFact wrote, “Many of the details Trump cited do not stand up to scrutiny.”


** The Post’s take
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As I mentioned above, The Washington Post’s coverage on this is especially interesting. As a national news outlet, the Post covers most everything that Trump says and does. But this story carries extra weight because it’s about the town where the Post is headquartered.

The Post on Monday quickly put together a smart conversation with editorial writer Robert Gebelhoff and columnists Megan McArdle and Jason Willick in “What does Trump’s takeover mean for D.C.?” ([link removed])

It was a good conversation that tried to include more than one perspective. For example, McArdle said, “Crime in D.C. is falling, but it is still outrageously high. That has enormous costs not just to victims, but to the people who have to take precautions against it, whether installing an alarm system, as we did last year, putting bars on their windows, or avoiding certain areas. It also takes a toll on the city’s economy, driving tourists away and encouraging suburbanites to get out of the city after dark. So, I’m very sympathetic to Trump’s desire to get things under control.”

“That said,” McArdle continued, ‘I am skeptical that deploying the National Guard is a solution, and the way Jeanine Pirro was talking about the problem — charge more teenagers as adults! Lock ’em up and throw away the key! — recaps the failed anti-crime politics of the 1990s.”

But the Post also went with the facts, too. Reporters Olivia George, John D. Harden and Jenny Gathright wrote, “Trump says crime in D.C. is out of control. Here’s what the data shows.” ([link removed])

They wrote, “D.C. police have made about 900 juvenile arrests this year — almost 20 percent fewer than during the same time frame last year. About 200 of those charges are for violent crimes, and at least four dozen are for carjacking. This summer, D.C. officials have also implemented stricter curfew laws for teens in response to concerns about large brawls — recorded in videos that spread on social media — breaking out in communities across the city. Violent crime in D.C. has been on the decline since 2023, when a generational spike in killings rendered the nation’s capital one of America’s deadliest cities, plunging communities into grief and igniting a local political crisis that escalated to Congress. The decrease since then is part of a nationwide drop over the past two years that in 2024 brought homicide rates to their lowest level in decades. This year, homicides are down more than 30 percent in data that The Washington Post collected from more than 100 police departments in large
U.S. cities. Reports of burglaries and robberies also dipped by double-digit percentages.”


** Sending in the troops
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Protesters demonstrate against President Donald Trump's planned use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington at a rally in Dupont Circle in Washington on Monday. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

This isn’t the first time Trump has called upon the National Guard when it doesn’t seem at all necessary. Remember, it was only a couple of months ago, in June, when Trump sent nearly 5,000 federal troops to Southern California after there were protests over immigration raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The troops included 700 Marines and some 4,000 members of the California National Guard. He did that despite objections from local authorities, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

During his first term, in the summer of 2020, Trump sent in troops to break up those peacefully protesting near the White House against police brutality.

CNN’s Aaron Blake wrote Monday ([link removed]) , “Top officials in Trump’s first term worried about his penchant for calling in the troops – something they have said they talked him out of – because of its overtones of getting the military involved in domestic politics and its potential to inflame situations. Some of these same officials have said Trump has fascist tendencies. The situations where Trump has called in the guard are unlikely to tamp down those fears.”

It’s hard not to look at this as a political maneuver by Trump.

NBC’s News’ Jonathan Allen wrote ([link removed]) , “In appointing himself Washington’s top cop, he promised to clean up a city that he described as having been ‘overtaken’ by ‘bloodthirsty criminals.’ Attorney General Pam Bondi went a step further, vowing that ‘crime in D.C. is ending today.’ That obviously won’t happen. But two things can be true at once: D.C. residents are the victims of too many violent crimes, and the rate of those violent crimes has dropped noticeably. That should make it easier for Trump to keep this promise — he can just take credit for what was already in motion — than the ones that have fallen short: ending inflation and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, among others.”


** Joining forces
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ESPN is getting ready to launch its direct-to-consumer offering on Aug. 21. Meanwhile, that same day, Fox is launching something called Fox One, which will combine sports, news and entertainment from across Fox’s broadcast and cable channels.

But now comes this breaking news from Deadline’s Dade Hayes ([link removed]) : ESPN and Fox are going to bundle their direct-to-consumer products into one package that will provide some savings to customers.

ESPN’s product by itself costs $29.99 a month. Fox One is $19.99 a month. But Hayes reports the combined product, set to launch on Oct. 2, will be $39.99 a month.

Hayes writes, “The team-up is the latest example of third-party bundling, but the first notable package involving major sports rights holders. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery launched a combo last year of HBO Max, Disney+ and Hulu, with both companies indicating it has gained a degree of traction. Consumers are being confronted by significant price increases and overwhelming choice in the marketplace.”

Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner wrote ([link removed]) , “Last week, Disney CEO Bob Iger expressed his desire to make ESPN’s new streaming service a go-to destination for live sports regardless of what network a game is airing on. It’s unclear if subscribers to this bundle will be able to access Fox content directly in the ESPN app (or vice-versa, if Fox One users will be able to access ESPN content directly in that app), or if bundle subscribers will launch a separate platform entirely. Either way, expect this type of bundling to continue as every major sports rights holder will now have their own direct-to-consumer platforms to sell.”


** Media tidbits
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* Nieman Lab’s Joshua Benton with “Alden Global Capital is still trying to get its hands on The Dallas Morning News.” ([link removed])
* The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin writes about the Fox News journalist in “Bill Hemmer Wants to Be at the Center of the Story.” ([link removed])
* The Semafor podcast “Mixed Signals” talks with sports journalist Pablo Torre: “Pablo Torre on ESPN, investigating LeBron, and becoming the New York Times’ first ‘creator.’” ([link removed])
* When it comes to children’s TV, The Atlantic’s Shirley Li with “A Cheat Code for Parents Isn’t Working Anymore.” ([link removed])


** Hot type
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* From last week for The New York Times’ “The Interview” series, Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, in “The Head of the A.D.L. on Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism and Free Speech.” ([link removed])
* The Wall Street Journal’s Melissa Korn with “I Finally Listened to My Body. It Saved My Life.” ([link removed])
* An interesting figure these days is actress Cheryl Hines, who played Larry David’s wife on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” She also happens to be the wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. So naturally, people have loads of questions for her regarding many of her husband’s radical views on health and vaccines, as well as what she calls a “nice friendship” with Donald Trump. That’s why I was eager to read a big feature about Hines in The Wall Street Journal … until I read it. Overall, it’s a pretty glowing no-pushback profile, complete with a few glamour shots. If you’re still interested, here’s Ellen Gamerman with “How Cheryl Hines Went From Hollywood Star to Mrs. MAHA.” ([link removed])


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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

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