Donald Trump is responding to criticism of his federal crime crackdown in Washington, D.C.

On Monday, August 25, Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office as he signed a slew of new executive orders, including one instructing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to train a new National Guard unit dedicated to “ensuring public safety and order in the Nation’s capital.”

“When I see what’s happening in our cities and then you send in troops, instead of being praised, they’re saying you’re trying to take over the Republic,” Trump, 79, told reporters of his detractors. “These people are sick.”

“They reply, ‘We don’t need him. “Freedom, freedom, he’s a dictator, he’s a dictator,” Trump said. “Many people are saying, ‘Maybe we like a tyrant.’ I don’t like dictators. I am not a dictator. I’m a man with excellent common sense and intelligence.”

The next day, during a Cabinet meeting, Trump reiterated his remarks.

“The line is that I’m a dictator, but I stop crime,” he declared on Tuesday. “So a lot of people say, ‘You know, if that’s the case, I’d rather have a dictator.'”

“But I’m not a dictator,” he said. “I just know how to stop crime.”

On Monday, August 11, the president stated that he was assuming control of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and sending the National Guard into the city to combat crime and target the homeless population. In addition to those troops, federal agents from the FBI, Border Patrol, and ICE have joined street patrols.

Trump placed Attorney General Pam Bondi in charge of the municipal police and stated that he was prepared to send additional military soldiers “if needed” to solve the “public safety emergency.”

Since the beginning of Trump’s crime crackdown, arrests have increased throughout the District of Columbia. Civilians have also demonstrated against the deployment of armed guards and military Humvees on residential streets, as well as curfews in some districts and pop-up ICE checkpoints.

Last Monday, a National Guard Humvee circled a group of demonstrators in Dupont Circle while they screamed, “Danger! Danger!” “There is a fascist in the White House!”

On August 13, Trump stated that he intended to prolong the initial 30-day takeover of D.C. police and spread the crackdown to other US cities.

“We’re going to need a crime bill… and it’s going to start in D.C.,” he remarked as he announced the Kennedy Center candidates for 2025. “We’re going to use [D.C.] as a very positive example, and we’re going to be asking for extensions on that long-term.”

“That’s going to serve as a beacon for New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other places all over the country,” Mr. Trump said. “Our entire country will be so different and wonderful. It will be clean, safe, and attractive, and people will adore our flag more than they ever have. And we are going to perform an excellent job.”

Trump proclaimed a public safety emergency despite D.C. data showing a significant decline in violent crime over the previous year and a half. Trump justified his strong tactics by claiming without proof that D.C.’s crime data was altered to lessen the gravity of the situation.