Trump is winning the 'law and order' debate — and trampling 'freedom' in the process: analysis

Members of Drug Enforcement Administration patrol the Wharf after U.S. President Donald Trump federalized the Metropolitan Police Department under the Home Rule Act and deployed National Guard to assist in crime prevention in the nation's capital, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 15, 2025. REUTERS/Alex Kent

During the 1960s, Republicans found a new line of attack against Democrats: accusing them of being "soft on crime." President Richard Nixon ran on an aggressive tough-on-crime platform in 1968 and 1972, and that law-and-order messaging was later embraced by GOP Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush — whose infamous Willie Horton ads of 1988 played a key role in his victory over Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis that year.

The Bush campaign repeatedly hammered Dukakis, a former Massachusetts governor, as soft on crime — and it worked.

President Donald Trump, during his second term, is claiming that violent crime is so out of control in Washington, DC that its police force needs to be federalized (although crime is actually way down in the U.S. capital).

In an article published on August 19, Salon's Chauncey DeVega emphasizes that Trump is taking law-and-order policies to a whole new level — and he fears that Americans will be willing to sacrifice their civil liberties in the name of safety.

"First, it was Los Angeles," DeVega explains. "Now, it is Washington, D.C. Next, it could be the rest of the country — and maybe even the world. On August 11, President Donald Trump announced plans to invoke Section 740 of the Home Rule Act to seize control of Washington's Metropolitan Police Department and to deploy 800 troops from the D.C. National Guard to combat what he called 'crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor'…. In reality, violent crime in Washington is at a 30-year low."

DeVega continues, "Trump's takeover of law enforcement in Washington for reasons of 'law and order' is but one more step toward a permanent state of national emergency where the Constitution, voting and elections, and civil rights could be greatly curtailed, if not suspended altogether. On Monday, (August 18), he seemingly joked about the prospect of curtailing U.S. elections during his Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky."

DeVega notes that Radley Balko, a journalist/author known for his focus on criminal justice and civil liberties, considers Trump much more "dangerous" than GOP presidents of the past.

In an article published by The Intercept on August 11, Balko wrote, "The threat today is uniquely authoritarian and dangerous. The Nixon and Bush Administrations were pushing policies that were wrongheaded, counterproductive, and in a few cases, unconstitutional. But they weren't attacks on democracy.…This most certainly is."

But DeVega fears that Americans, worried about crime, won't heed Balko's message.

"Throughout the Age of Trump," DeVega warns, "I've overheard many conversations on the street, on the bus or in some other public place where people say things like 'Trump may be crazy' or 'I think he is too extreme.' And then they add: 'But at least he is doing something about the problem.' I have heard this from Black, brown and white people; from members of the working class and poor and middle class; and from young people and older people. Even with Trump's return to power in 2025, these voices have not gone away. If anything, they may have grown louder."

The Salon journalist continues, "If Democrats and the party's messengers continue along their current impotent path, Trump and his MAGA Republicans will likely not need skullduggery and trickery to win power in the future. Enough Americans will vote for him and the MAGA movement yet again — and by doing so, they will willingly surrender their democracy and freedom for 'law and order,' 'national strength' and 'unity.'"

Chauncey DeVega's full article for Salon is available at this link.