WASHINGTON — D.C. restaurants saw a more than 25% drop in diners in the days following President Donald Trump’s takeover of the city’s police department, according to a WUSA9 analysis of reservation numbers.
On Monday, the day Trump announced he would invoke the D.C. Home Rule Act and federalize the city’s police department for the first time in history, online reservations in the District dropped by 16% compared to the same date in 2024, according to data from OpenTable . On Tuesday, as the National Guard began being mobilized in the District, reservations were 27% below their 2024 levels. On Wednesday they were down 31%.
Prior to this month, D.C.’s restaurant industry – one of the worst hit in the country by pandemic shutdowns – had seen 11 consecutive months of year-over-year im