Washington, D.C
Local Washington officials brace for four years of playing defense against Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s first stint in the White House proved to be a chaotic ride for the District of Columbia.
Now with Trump set to return to power — backed by a Republican-controlled Congress and the momentum of a sweeping electoral win — local officials in the nation’s capital are trying to sound conciliatory while preparing for the worst.
“We have been discussing and planning for many months in the case that the District has to defend itself and its values,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser. Her office had “communicated with (Trump’s) team and indicated we would like to speak,” she said on Nov. 12, but hadn’t heard back.
Bowser downplayed the myriad differences between the two sides and emphasized a search for common ground. But those commonalities may be hard to come by, given open mutual animosity that has defined Trump’s relationship with the district.
During Trump’s turbulent first four years in office, he and the local government publicly sparred multiple times — in tones ranging from playful to deeply personal. When Trump floated the idea of a massive July 4 military parade complete with tanks rolling through the streets, the D.C. Council publicly mocked him.
When mass protests broke out in the summer of 2020 over the death of George Floyd and wider police brutality and racial issues, Trump accused Bowser of losing control of her city. he eventually declared his own multi-agency lockdown that included low-flying helicopters buzzing protesters. Bowser responded by having “Black Lives Matter” painted on the street in giant letters one block from the White House.
What to know about Trump’s second term:
Follow all of our coverage as Donald Trump assembles his second administration.
During the last four years, with Trump as an aggrieved private citizen, his feelings toward Washington have remained intense. On the campaign trail, he repeatedly vowed to “take over” the city and usurp the authority of the local government. In August 2023, when he briefly came to town to plead not guilty on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 electoral loss to President Joe Biden, Trump blasted the capital city on social media, calling it a “filthy and crime ridden embarrassment to our nation.”
Now Bowser and the D.C. Council are bracing for what could be several years of playing defense against opponents who wield significant power over Washington’s affairs.
“We just have to do our best and hold on for another few years. We have to figure out how to make it work,” said Councilmember Christina Henderson. “Unlike millions of voters around the country, I actually believe the man when he speaks. He said what he’s going to do.”
Henderson, a former staffer for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., points out that Trump has already experienced what she called “the trifecta” — Republican control of the White House and both houses of Congress — during his first two years in office and the district managed to get through it. She also notes that Republican control of the House of Representatives will be up for grabs again in just two more years.
“I can’t predict what they’re going to try to do to us,” she said. “I can just prepare to respond.”
But responding to the intentions of an antagonistic White House and Congress is difficult, given the nature of the District’s limited autonomy. Under terms of the city’s Home Rule authority, Congress essentially vets all D.C. laws and can outright overturn them.
Even when Trump was out of the White House, activist Republicans on the House Oversight Committee repeatedly summoned Bowser and members of the D.C. Council — often to publicly grill them about local crime rates.
And by far the most extensive modern congressional encroachment on the District’s authority came with Democrats controlling both the Senate and the White House. In 2023, a sweeping rewrite of the D.C. criminal code was branded as soft on crime by House Republicans; in a major setback for the council, both Senate Democrats and President Biden agreed and the law was effectively canceled.
“We know that the district can always be a convenient foil to some of these folks,” said Councilmember Charles Allen. “Without statehood, without autonomy, our laws are always more at risk than any other Americans.”
Both councilmembers predict a wave of budget riders on the annual appropriations bill — designed to alter district laws in ways big and small. These riders have been a longtime source of resentment for local lawmakers, who charge Congress members with tinkering with the district in a manner they could never get away with at home.
“They want to do something to the district because they feel they can. They would never do that to their own state,” Allen said.
He highlights the infamous “Harris rider” named for Maryland Rep. Andy Harris. A staunch opponent of legalized marijuana, Harris has for years used a budget rider to prevent the local government from creating any sort of regulatory framework for taxing or controlling sales. Meanwhile, Maryland has since legalized recreational marijuana use.
“He can’t implement it in his home state, but he can do it to us,” Allen said.
Last year’s appropriations bill initially included riders that would have banned all traffic speed cameras in the nation’s capital and prevented the district government from banning right turns on red lights. Those proposals eventually faded during the negotiation process, but Allen feels that the coming Congress “won’t have Democrats in the same position to help negotiate away many of the most objectionable budget riders.”
Other congressional Republicans have sought to make more fundamental changes to the way Washington operates. Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia has proposed completely repealing the Home Rule Act, while Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee has talked publicly of abolishing the office of D.C. mayor. Neither Ogles’ nor Clyde’s office responded to Associated Press requests for comment on their future intentions.
Despite the looming battles, Bowser’s search for common ground with Trump and congressional Republicans may not be completely hopeless. Bowser actually vetoed the criminal code rewrite but was overridden by the D.C. Council; her opposition was frequently cited by congressional Republicans as proof of how far the council had strayed from mainstream Democratic policy.
And Bowser, Trump and Republicans in Congress have all agreed for years on one particular issue: the need to end post-pandemic teleworking and bring all federal employees back to their offices five days a week. She said she looked forward to discussing that with Trump.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Seventy-two veterans took a trip Saturday to our nation’s capital to visit memorials honoring their service in the armed forces.
This year marks the 12th trip to Washington, D.C. for Honor Flight Tallahassee.
Early Saturday morning, veterans and their guardians met to take a charter flight up to D.C.
Throughout the day, veterans were taken to the World War II memorial, as well as the Korean and Vietnam War memorials. The veterans also visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
More Tallahassee news:
The day ended with a wonderful welcome home celebration.
Our Jacob Murphey, Julia Miller, Taylor Viles, and Grace Temple accompanied the veterans, capturing moments from throughout the day.
The team will have live coverage from Washington, D.C. on Monday to share more from the day’s events.
We will continue to have coverage throughout the month of May, leading up to our Honor Flight special on Memorial Day.
To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor and X (Twitter).
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4 things to know about the weather:
- Chances of rain in the morning
- Gusty Sunday
- Chilly Monday
- Temps will rise again through the work week
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
After a nice and warm Saturday, changes arrive for part two of the weekend.
The first half of your Sunday will have a chance for showers. Winds will pick up with our next system and are expected to gust to about 20-30 mph. Cooler air will settle in, and lows Sunday night fall into the 40s.
Highs temps Monday will reach only into the mid to upper 50s.
However, temperatures will rise through the week, so you won’t need your jackets every day.
QuickCast
SUNDAY:
Showers, then partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 30 mph
HIGH: Lower 60s
MONDAY:
Partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 25 mph
HIGH: Upper 50s
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
Washington, D.C
‘It’s a twilight zone’: Iran war casts deep shadows over IMF gathering in Washington
The most severe energy shock since the 1970s, the risk of a global recession and households everywhere stomaching a renewed surge in the cost of living – hitting the most vulnerable hardest.
In a sweltering hot Washington DC this week, the message at the International Monetary Fund meetings was chilling: things had been looking up for living standards around the world. But then came the Iran war.
“Some countries are in panic,” said the fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, addressing the finance ministers and central bank bosses in town for the IMF and World Bank spring meetings. “The sooner it [the Iran war] ends, the better for everybody.”
Such gatherings are not typically used to fight geopolitical battles. “You don’t get people shouting at one another at these things,” one senior figure remarked. But, as a record-breaking April heatwave swept the US capital, no one could ignore the mounting damage from the Iran war.
Those familiar with the mood over breakfast at a meeting of the G20’s representatives on Thursday, which included Donald Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and the outgoing US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell – said the atmosphere in the room was sombre amid an open exchange of serious views.
“It is such a twilight-zone meeting,” said Mohamed El-Erian, a former IMF deputy managing director who is now chief economic adviser at the Allianz insurance group. “There are several shadows hanging over it: one is the shadow that comes from concern about the global economy as a whole.
“The second is that some countries are going to be particularly hard hit, and it’s mostly countries that very few people are talking about. But the third concern is the adding of insult to injury: the fact that the US, which started a war of choice, is going to be hit, but by a lot less than elsewhere in relative terms.”
Before Thursday’s breakfast, Rachel Reeves had started her day with an early-morning jog. Joined by her counterparts from Spain, Australia and New Zealand for a run down the iconic National Mall, she posted an Instagram selfie with a not-so-subtle dig: “Friends that run together – work together.”
A day earlier, the chancellor had told a CNBC conference that she thought “friends are allowed to disagree on things” as she criticised Trump’s Iran war as a “mistake” and a “folly” that had not made the world safer.
Speaking at a venue just steps away from the White House, before a one-on-one meeting with Bessent, she said this “fair message” was needed because UK families and businesses were feeling the pain from higher energy prices triggered by the conflict.
Those close to Reeves insist her meeting remained cordial. Britain and the US have significant shared interests in AI, financial services and trade. The chancellor also said the UK government had little time for the Iranian regime.
But with the IMF having warned on Tuesday that the Iran war could risk a global recession – in which Britain would be the biggest G7 casualty – it was clear Reeves had travelled to Washington ready to pick a fight.
“I’m struck by how vocal she has been and the words she used,” said one global financier. “We know the disagreement between Bessent and [European Central Bank president] Christine Lagarde earlier in the year. But that was in private.”
At a cocktail party held at the British ambassador’s residence for hundreds of diplomats and financiers – including the Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, the chief executive of Barclays, CS Venkatakrishnan, and dozens of senior figures – this transatlantic tension, weeks before King Charles’s US state visit, was a major topic of conversation.
The other, in the balmy residence gardens, was one of its former occupants, Peter Mandelson, as revelations about the former ambassador’s appointment threatened to further rock the UK government.
Before the war, the agenda for the IMF had been about global cooperation; the adoption of AI, jobs and work to eradicate poverty. Each of those tasks had now been complicated, but not least the task of countries working together.
For many at the meetings, the focus was on forging closer global cooperation without the world’s pre-eminent superpower.
“Everybody is talking about how you hedge against American decisions,” said David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary, who now runs the International Rescue Committee. “You can’t do without them, because they’re 25% of the global economy. But, in a lot of fora, they’ve pulled out.
“So everyone has to think, how does one structure international cooperation? The old west is not coming back. And so everyone has to figure out how to position themselves for that world.”
For those gathering in Washington, there was irony in the fact that they were meeting in the halls of institutions founded, under US leadership, to promote global cooperation after the second world war. The whole idea of the Bretton Woods institutions was to avoid the dire economic conditions and warfare of the 1930s and 1940s. Yet this year’s meeting was taking place amid these intertwining problems.
In their conversations about the best economic policy response to the shock of conflict, the economists also knew the real power to make a difference lay two blocks across town from the IMF and the World Bank – behind the security cordons and construction equipment blocking the White House from public view. “It is not clear they can do anything about it,” said El-Erian.
Still, with a booming economy driven by AI – including Anthropic’s powerful Mythos model, the topic of much conversation – most countries cannot afford to completely break off US ties.
“People want to find ways to insulate themselves from the mess. But, on the other hand, they admire the US private sector,” El-Erian said. “The best way I’ve heard it put, is: they want to go long the private sector and short the mess. But it’s almost impossible to do.”
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