--- title: "Life in Trump’s backyard and surviving DJT’s insidious badgering of Washington, DC" description: "Donald Trump frames his endeavours in physically transforming the city as making it ‘beautiful and safe’. But that’s not how it feels to those of us who live here." type: "OpinionNewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "Opinionistas" author: "Micheline Tusenius" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/micheline-tusenius/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2026-08-06-life-in-trumps-backyard-and-surviving-djts-insidious-badgering-of-washington-dc/" published: "2026-08-06T23:07:56" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 2043 --- # Life in Trump’s backyard and surviving DJT’s insidious badgering of Washington, DC > Donald Trump frames his endeavours in physically transforming the city as making it ‘beautiful and safe’. But that’s not how it feels to those of us who live here. By Micheline Tusenius · Published 7 August 2026, 01:07 SAST ## Content ![Signpost-Opinion](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/ToEp388PygKxbVnnboBpUQ3buys=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/label-Opinion.jpg) It seems like a typical Washington, DC, summer: the air is heavy with humidity. Crepe myrtle trees flaunt red, white or pastel blooms. Tourists swarm the monuments and air-conditioned museums while summer interns roam neighbourhoods in packs, seeking the best happy hour deals. Residents find relief from the heat in swimming pools and in the thick forests of Rock Creek, the sprawling national park that is the heart and lungs of the District of Columbia. Others flee the city for beaches on the Eastern Shore. Yet there is nothing usual about this summer in America’s capital city. ![Opinion-Tusenius-Trump’s backyard](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/9BYwnQRPaY_We6kTWVs7MaVg0Xs=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/IMG_4088_966516.jpeg) *Wheatpasted signs. (Photo: Micheline Tusenius)* At farmers’ markets, shoppers encounter armed National Guard troops amid mounds of ruby-red tomatoes, ears of corn and other summer staples. Locals have to contend with patrols of these troops on street corners and in or outside Metro subway stations. You cannot avoid coming across them whenever you venture outside. They first descended on the city in August 2025 when President Donald Trump announced a “crime emergency” in the city and ordered Republican governors to send National Guard detachments to enhance federal law enforcement in DC. Crime statistics for DC had reached an all-time high in 2023, likely in part in response to the Covid-19 shocks. But, by 2025 crime levels in DC [had declined](https://www.niskanencenter.org/washington-dc-crime-decline-and-its-lessons-for-american-policing/#what-happened-to-crime-in-washington-d-c) to multiyear lows. There are now [4,600 troops deployed](https://abcnews4.com/news/nation-world/national-guard-leaders-tout-results-dc-mission-nears-1-year-mark-washington-crime-crackdown) in the district. A long-term [$292-million contract for the troops’ housing](https://federalnewsnetwork.com/federal-newscast/2026/07/national-guard-in-washington-d-c-are-moving-to-long-term-housing/) was signed last week, implying that the guards will be here at least until January 2029, when a new president should be inaugurated. The guards’ incessant presence is more ominous than “crime prevention”. Last year, Trump himself urged military leaders to use deployments to US cities as “[training grounds](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5528730-trump-military-training-cities-crime-crackdown/)” and as helpful in addressing a “war from within”. ![Opinion-Tusenius-Trump’s backyard](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/XLK5MDH7GuVNi5aL4zhdV6XmQoc=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/IMG_4148_659108.jpeg) *The now barricaded Reflecting Pool by the Lincoln Memorial. (Photo: Micheline Tusenius)* Access to favourite city locations is being blocked: the public can’t walk by the Reflecting Pool next to the Lincoln Memorial since the recent repainting fiasco. The pool is now cordoned off for all, assumably so a new makeover can proceed. Neither can visitors get close to the White House, “the People’s House”, to pose for photos in front of it. Lafayette Park, which abuts the White House, is closed off. A high fence with gates for crowd control [will reportedly be erected](https://www.npr.org/2026/07/16/nx-s1-5893465/dc-lafayette-square-park-permanent-fencing-proposal) around the park, thereby reducing, if not eliminating, the longstanding ability of the public to view the White House from closer up. A treasured public golf course, the one at East Potomac Park on Hain’s Point, a popular area also for runners, cyclists and picnic lovers, may soon also be fenced off for renovations – and [conversion into a private “championship” golf course](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-cycling-community-protests-plans-to-renovate-east-potomac-park/4131785/). And Washingtonians’ beloved John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts lies dark, empty and destitute. Trump had his handpicked board add his name to the centre – and had it drilled into the marble of the memorial, ahead of revered late president Kennedy’s name – only to have [a court order him to remove it](https://www.npr.org/2026/07/08/nx-s1-5886099/appeals-court-denies-president-trumps-request-to-halt-removing-his-name-from-the-kennedy-center) because obligatory congressional authority for a name change had not been obtained. Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center had performers cancel contracts and the public stop attending performances. Trump then closed the centre for renovations, unable to admit he’d caused the centre’s finances to collapse. Washington, DC, is reeling from Trump’s attempts to alter the city in his image. He frames his endeavours in physically transforming the city as “making the city beautiful and safe”. But that’s not how it feels to those of us who live here. ![Opinion-Tusenius-Trump’s backyard](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/B6gXpKXiovp7IHNFp4uQRXfKdHU=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/IMG_4118_834870.jpeg) *The now working water feature in Meridian Hill / Malcolm X Park. (Photo: Micheline Tusenius)* It’s true that the fountains by Union Station, on Dupont Circle and at Meridian Hill Park (better known as Malcolm X Park to locals), now function again. But most DC residents don’t particularly care. We’d far rather have the federal government off our backs and National Guard troops leave than have working fountains. Many of his attempted physical do-overs are familiar: we all know about his changes to the White House – obliterating the East Wing to make way for a cavernous ballroom, adding gold trimming and trinkets to the Oval Office, paving over the Rose Garden and recasting the South Lawn as a helipad. (In case you missed this sacrilegious tidbit: Building rubble from the East Wing, which contained heavy metals and other toxins, [was dumped in East Potomac Park](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/east-wing-debris-east-potomac-golf-course-toxic-metals-nps/4100585/) – to help contour the new private golf course that may be built there over the current public one). We’re also all aware of his efforts to try erecting a massive “Arc de Trump” between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. It would create an eyesore, break the purposeful alignment of nearby monuments and also introduce a hazard for incoming and outgoing airplanes at nearby Reagan National Airport. This past week, we discovered that formerly bronze statues by the Lincoln Memorial [have now been regilded](https://people.com/newly-regilded-golden-horse-statues-spark-debate-after-trumps-usd5m-project-12031723) in bright gold leaf at a cost of $5-million. We were also told of Trump’s personal involvement in a [$22.5-billion deal reconfiguring Dulles International Airport](https://wtop.com/national/2026/07/trump-is-set-to-announce-a-22b-makeover-of-dulles-airport-that-will-eliminate-the-people-movers/) near Washington, DC, a shameless effort to, you’ve guessed it, get the airport renamed in his honour. His nonstop initiatives to physically overhaul the city of Washington, DC, are far more insidious than merely trying to “beautify” the city or make it “safer”. The case of the demolition of the White House’s East Wing is instructive. Few dispute the need for a larger, more permanent venue at the White House for occasions such as state dinners. In the past, when required, a big tent was erected temporarily on the South Lawn. But it’s how Trump has gone about all these projects, including at the White House, that disturbs most Americans. He has shown no regard whatsoever for convention, for process or for the historical or emotional attachment of Americans to the home in which American presidents live while holding the exalted office, or to the city that is proudly the nation’s capital. For Trump, that seems to be the point: it’s all about intentionally violating laws, procedures and norms that were, until this administration, core to America’s democratic system of governance. He deliberately seeks to control, to manipulate and to falsify, in order to assert dominance. And he has sought to reshape no location in the US as much as the District of Columbia. Washington, DC, has an ambiguous status in the US. ![Opinion-Tusenius-Trump’s backyard](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/HzWGk8Atf9n5tpq-1-3VGDJKFMg=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/IMG_4090_418131.jpeg) *Wheatpasted signs. (Photo: Micheline Tusenius)* The US constitution established the district as the permanent seat of the federal government and gave Congress exclusive legislative authority over it. This was modified in 1973 when Congress granted DC limited “home rule”. DC residents could now vote for a mayor, a 13-member council and neighbourhood committees to manage local budgets and other local matters, even while Congress retained for itself the power to block local laws or local spending. This granting of some political autonomy was positive for district residents, but it stopped short of making DC a state. Not being a state means that the district has no federal-level elected representatives: it has no senators or congressional representatives. Yet the district’s population of 698,700 [outnumbers those of two fully fledged states](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population) – Vermont (644,670) and Wyoming (588,750). These states each have two US senators and a single US representative. This strikes most DC residents as unfair, especially since DC residents pay federal taxes, just like other Americans. ![Opinion-Tusenius-Trump’s backyard](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/xXukhJWBdXR8qETG3iaYdp41KVk=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/IMG_4086_642231.jpeg) *Wheatpasted signs. (Photo: Micheline Tusenius)* District residents thus experience “taxation without representation”. This combination sparked the American Revolution in the 1770s when colonists rebelled against King George, the English monarch who kept raising their taxes without letting them have a say in the matter. Apart from the fact that they can legally get away with it – due to the district’s unique status – the real reason Trump and Republicans in Congress enjoy badgering Washington, DC is because its residents lean very Democratic. [More than 90%](https://electionresults.dcboe.org/election_results/2024-General-Election) of the district’s residents voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election rather than for Trump. Washington, DC has always been this Democratic. In the 1984 election, apart from his home state of Minnesota, the district was the only other state or jurisdiction that voted for Walter Mondale for president over Ronald Reagan. If the District of Columbia were to become a state, it would unquestionably elect two Democratic senators and a Democratic representative. This is perhaps the biggest reason Republicans in Congress resist supporting statehood for the district. Black and Hispanic or Latino Americans traditionally support the Democratic Party and [a majority of DC residents are Black or Hispanic/Latino](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/DC/PST045225), although this percentage is declining as the district gentrifies. Many of the city’s restaurants and other small businesses haven’t really recovered from Covid when the million people, many of them federal workers, who typically commuted into the city daily stopped coming for an extended period. The next whammy to hit were the cuts to agencies and budgets stemming from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The district lost 31,000 federal jobs in 2025. Some US government agencies, like the Department of Homeland Security, hired new workers, so the [net jobs lost amounted to 22,356](https://wtop.com/dc/2026/03/how-did-doge-cuts-impact-dcs-economy-new-opm-data-offers-insight/), with a loss of $3.66-billion in annual pay. There was another clear exodus of people from the city following the DOGE cuts. Many apartment buildings still have “leasing now” signs outside, suggesting vacancies that still need filling. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are also active in the city. [They made nearly 20,000 arrests](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2026/04/06/ice-arrests-dc-maryland-virginia-surge/) in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area from the start of the second Trump term to March 2026. In contrast, there were 3,800 arrests in the last year of the Biden administration. Of the nearly 3,500 arrested in the first two months of the law enforcement surge in 2025, 40% were reportedly [connected to immigration issues](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-dc-immigration-arrests/). Resistance to ICE has taken many forms, especially during the initial law enforcement surge. Volunteers organised escorts to school for children so that immigrant parents, even those with legal status, didn’t have to make themselves vulnerable when dropping off or fetching their children. Others would track ICE agents on cycles, helping to warn communities about agents’ locations or roadblocks. Activists also acknowledged ICE arrests by placing signs at places that note “ICE arrested a person here on X date”. These signs were quickly removed, but residents noticed them. There are other ways in which DC residents are resisting the Trump administration: Sean Dunn became a local folk hero – and the subject of T-shirt graphics and much graffiti – when he threw his Subway sandwich at an officer who was trying to make an arrest. Dunn was charged with assaulting a federal official, but [no DC jury would convict](https://www.npr.org/2025/11/07/nx-s1-5601064/man-charged-with-throwing-his-sandwich-at-a-federal-officer-in-d-c-found-not-guilty) the “Sandwich Man”. David Hearn’s federal [charge of vandalism](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/us/politics/david-hearn-reflecting-pool-vandalism-charges.html) – for putting his hand into the water of the Reflecting Pool and briefly touching an already loose piece of the lining – also gained media attention and sparked a public outcry. The charge against him, which had the possibility of 10 years in prison, was recently dropped, [with great controversy.](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/04/ex-olympian-david-hearn-reflecting-pool-case) There are weekly “Visibility Brigade” protests at key intersections or on bridges, while rallies under the nationwide “No Kings” umbrella are extremely well attended in the district. And “Free DC”, a group of active locals, are organising DC residents and lobbying Congress for DC statehood, a worthy objective for the next Democratic administration. ![Opinion-Tusenius-Trump’s backyard](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/lVpoxN18s8mJee5oLzVFvjjKSdE=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/IMG_4089_435029.jpeg) *Wheatpasted signs. (Photo: Micheline Tusenius)* ![Opinion-Tusenius-Trump’s backyard](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/2srYl8kk2WzYX-aKGkd3YrLGoxw=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/IMG_4109_792883.jpeg) *Wheatpasted signs. (Photo: Micheline Tusenius)* The most entertaining form of resistance is the duel of the “wheatpasters”. Wheatpasting is a legal form of marketing or protest whereby a poster or sign is attached to public property using a sticky paste made from flour and water. Folks paste signs on the base of DC lampposts with messages like “All You Fascists, Bound to Lose”, “National Guard Out Now!” and “Only You Can Prevent Tyranny”. These signs are defaced or removed nearly as quickly as they are pasted. Yet DC residents endure. They’ve seen administrations come and go. They understand – and fervently hope – that this administration and its extreme manifestations will soon pass, without too much further damage to the city, its residents and its iconic buildings and monuments. **DM**