At its best, Washington, D.C., is a city of timeless grandeur, of iconic monuments and world-historical centers of power.

At its worst, it’s a harrowing place where a remorseless 14-year-old could steal your car.

The confluence of these two Washingtons in the terrible early-morning beating of the DOGE employee Edward Coristine, known by his sobriquet “Big Balls,” has prompted President Trump to federalize the D.C. police and deploy the National Guard. The software engineer played a significant role in the frenetic push to reform the federal government that dominated the national debate at the beginning of Trump’s second term and, by virtue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time (and protecting a young woman), was brutally attacked by teenagers within two miles of the White House.

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