After Donald Trump won the presidential election, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser flew to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to see him.

When Republicans pressured her over the giant “Black Lives Matter” lettering she installed in front of the White House during Trump’s first term, Bowser agreed to remove it. Her reasoning: The city had bigger fish to fry, particularly on managing the federal job cuts Trump has enacted this year.

Now, as Trump federalizes the police in the capital and deploys the National Guard, Bowser faces perhaps the biggest test to date of her leadership and her ability to navigate the White House.

Bowser’s comments in response to the announcement illustrate how she’s often trying to communicate multiple messages at one time.

Describing Trump’s executive action as “un

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