One year after President Donald Trump enraged liberals by deploying National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., their presence has become a familiar, and in some unexpected corners, celebrated reality. Self-described locals and visitors gave mixed reactions to the troops’ continued deployment in comments on Monday to the Washington Examiner. Trump’s deployment initially unified left-wing activists […]

One year after President Donald Trump enraged liberals by deploying National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., their presence has become a familiar, and in some unexpected corners, celebrated reality. Self-described locals and visitors gave mixed reactions to the troops’ continued deployment in comments on Monday to the Washington Examiner.

Trump’s deployment initially unified left-wing activists around expressing their outrage through “Free DC” rallies and routine noise demonstrations with pots and pans. Democrats in Congress called the move “authoritarian” or dictator-like. Many who spoke to the Washington Examiner on the eve of the anniversary, however, did not share that anger despite some continuing to disapprove of the deployment.

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“It does feel a lot safer and, believe it or not, in some ways it looks a lot cleaner,” said Scott Morgan, a man who spoke to the Washington Examiner in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters.

“I just went to an event and … I saw someone that needed medical attention at a bus stop near Farragut Square, and the people that were providing first aid were actually guard members,” said the man, who described himself as a former U.S. Marine.

The troops began patrolling on Aug. 11 at populated areas such as Metro train stations, as part of Trump’s wide-ranging response to crime in the district. The president moved to extend the troops’ deployment across the district until 2029, when he leaves office.

Reactions from those interviewed by the Washington Examiner on Monday ranged from praising the troops to declaring they need to “go back where they came from,” in the words of a woman walking by the McPherson Square Metro station.

“I do love what President Trump is doing, and I feel secure with the National Guard, 100%,” a woman at the Farragut North Metro station said.

Others seemed more apathetic about the troops.

“I haven’t had too many interactions, but never felt anything negative in that way,” said a young man at Union Station named Nick, who said he was from Fairfax, Virginia.

“I’d say I’m more on the neutral side,” said a man outside the Farragut West station who called himself a business owner. “I think there is a little bit of a sense of additional safety that comes from it, right? They are kind of around every corner or two or three. And so, if something were to be happening, I think there’s a chance they could see it and put a stop to it.”

The National Guard troops’ actions in Washington tend to be hands-off compared to police officers, although they maintain an imposing presence inside Metro stations where people may attempt to jump fare gates without paying, the Washington Examiner observed. However, one Washington woman claimed in a July lawsuit that National Guard troops “violently” detained her on her property in May after she was accused of pouring liquid on troops in a prior incident.

Former FBI Special Agent Stuart Kaplan said that even though the National Guard troops do not make arrests, their visibility alone can deter muggings, burglaries, vandalism, and other quality-of-life offenses.

National Guard troops monitor the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner)

“You have National Guard in all corners,” Kaplan told the Washington Examiner, describing the troops as a “more intimidating, imposing, visible element” that can serve as the “eyes and ears” of local police by reporting suspicious activity.

Debate over the military’s presence intensified when an armed man shot two National Guard troops at Washington’s Farragut West train station in November, killing one and hospitalizing the other. The suspect, identified as an Afghan national with mental health problems, pleaded not guilty in what authorities called a sudden attack. The targeted troops both came to Washington from West Virginia.

Whether the soldiers make someone feel safer is “up to the beholder,” according to one older man handing out Jehovah’s Witnesses pamphlets at Farragut Square.

“Every time I see them, I tell them, ‘Thank you for your service,’ because I appreciate what they’re doing,” he told the Washington Examiner. “They’re following orders, actually.”

Judging the crackdown’s success

The one-year deployment anniversary comes as the White House has touted a record of over 16,000 arrests in Washington since Trump’s crackdown.

“We’ve seen firsthand how sustained, coordinated law enforcement efforts can make an impact, and the impact is real when cases are prosecuted,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro told the Washington Examiner on Monday.

Pirro highlighted that her office’s prosecutions have risen 67% since she became U.S. attorney in August 2025, adding that her team has held “offenders accountable,” including nearly 2,000 illegal firearms seized in that time span and arrests of “murderers, sex offenders, drug traffickers, and other violent criminals.”

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro speaks with reporters as President Donald Trump, from left, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listen in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Her office’s successes have also come amid significant obstacles. Since her confirmation, Pirro has suffered a string of setbacks before Washington juries, a pattern some legal experts have suggested may reflect protest votes against convicting particular defendants — a practice known as jury nullification. Jurors from the deep-blue city have rejected the government’s arguments in several politically sensitive cases stemming from demonstrations in the district, while prosecutors have been forced to reduce charges in a handful of others.

More recently, Pirro was forced to abandon cases against at least four defendants charged with vandalism and failed to secure grand jury approval for proposed charges against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and five former military and intelligence officers now serving in Congress.

While Trump’s officials highlight a drop in crime, the district has also been investigating reports that police officers manipulated crime statistics over several years. In May, 13 Metropolitan Police Department employees were put on leave in connection to the way they reported offenses to minimize the appearance of crime in Washington.

MPD’s “Data at a Glance” web page shows an overall reduction in the city’s crime compared to this time last year, with an “all crime” decrease of 20% — or about 3,146 fewer crimes compared to 2025.

The MPD, Democratic politicians, and media outlets previously claimed violent offenses declined in 2024, before Trump returned to office, using MPD data, which employees have since said was rigged by higher-ups to show favorable trends, according to a July report from the district’s inspector general.

Kaplan attributed at least part of the past year’s drop in crime to the combined prospect of apprehension and prosecution.

“When people know that there are consequences for bad behavior, I think it has a direct deterrence,” he said, pointing both to the National Guard’s visibility and Pirro’s approach to prosecutions.

Some still are not convinced the president’s picture of a public safety crisis was accurate.

A protester confronts a member of the D.C. National Guard at Union Station, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

“I think that the troops maybe did not need to be deployed for the reasons that they were being stated to have been deployed,” the self-described business owner near Farragut North told the Washington Examiner. But his experience with the troops “hasn’t necessarily been as negative” as others see it, he added.

“The crime rate was already going down, so the purpose for being here really wasn’t justified,” a DoorDash driver who described himself as a Washington resident told the Washington Examiner at Union Station. Seeing the troops “absolutely” did not make him feel safer, he said.

The man also said that in his neighborhood, he usually sees the troops “in front of Whole Foods” or a dance theater. “They’re not really in any places where any real crime would actually even take place,” he told the Washington Examiner.

Meanwhile, activists like Free DC founder Alex Dodds, whose group hosts monthly jury training seminars that teach residents how to “influence outcomes” on juries, maintained a heightened level of resistance.

“The last time this president was supposed to come out of power, Jan. 6 happened,” Dodds told PBS News when asked about Trump’s plan to keep the troops in the district until 2029. “Imagine if that happens again, but this time he has 5,000 troops standing at the ready to be part of that situation. You know, that’s our worry.”

DC AGENCY CONFIRMS POLICE RIGGED CRIME STATS THE LEFT USED TO DEBUNK TRUMP

Washington is not the only place where Trump decided to deploy the National Guard; others included Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland. While states managed to successfully challenge the troop deployments in court, Washington’s status as a federal district allowed the deployment in the nation’s capital to continue unabated.

“This is the nation’s capital. It has a certain image to uphold,” Morgan, the man outside the VA office, told the Washington Examiner.

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