U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on artificial intelligence at the Winning the AI Race Summit in Washington D.C., U.S., July 23, 2025. REUTERS Kent Nishimura

Washington Monthly editor Bill Scher says President Donald Trump is not only dodging behind DC to escape his Epstein scandal but also behind bogus crime figures to build his cover.

“‘Facts don’t care about your feelings’ is a maxim popularized by the conservative commentator Ben Shapiro,” writes Scher, but the ‘facts don't care about your feelings’ crowd suddenly prefers "vibes" over D.C. crime statistics that demolish Trump's justification for federal police control.”

Scher notes right-wing podcaster Michael Knowles defended Trump’s federal takeover of the Washington, D.C. police, claiming it was “in response to skyrocketing crime.” This was despite the fact that the rate of violent crime in D.C in 2024 is down by more than a third since 2023, and more than half since 2010.

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But it’s not just right-wing media pushing the rising crime fantasy, said Scher. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough recently declared “I don’t care what the crime statistics say. Crime has been a problem in this city for the 32 years I’ve been living inside and outside of the city. I think Congress and the President should have stepped in 30 years ago.”

Scher also referenced Axios reporter Alex Thompson admitting “we have a 30-year low … [of] violent crime,” while also claiming he’d “talked to Democrat strategists” that think citing statistics is “sort of a tone deaf way to react” to crime.

But all this “hypothesizing about feelings” ignores a bigger issue, said Scher.

“We should look at the statistics, not to argue that crime is no longer a problem in D.C. or anywhere [but] … because when you do you will see that the President of the United States is brazenly lying about crime in D.C. to falsely claim there is an 'emergency' and exploit the law that allows the federal government to temporarily take over the D.C. police force in emergencies,” Scher said.

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And even if you are going strictly on “feelings,” Scher asks what is the evidence that there is an actual panic about crime? A poll by The Economist/YouGov asked respondents which of 15 different issues is most important to you, and “Crime” ranked 12th with only two percent.

“This is not a national electorate worked up about crime,” said Scher, adding “most Americans don’t see rampant crime in their neighborhoods and are not so easily manipulated by Trump’s attempts to turn the media spotlight away from less favorable topics such as his administration’s high tariffs and broken promises to release the Epstein files.”

But Trump needs a “distraction,” said Scher. “As an authoritarian at heart, he needs foils. He needs hellscapes to rail against. He needs excuses to justify power grabs. He needs problems, and he needs Democratic scapegoats for those problems.”

Scher added that “rationalizing” Trump’s actions as technically legal only sets the stage for more abuses in other cities. “The only thing 'tone deaf' in this dialogue is the downplaying of authoritarian encroachment into our daily lives.”

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Read the full Washington Monthly report at this link.