May 7, 2025 • 35 mins
Just over 100 days into Trump’s second term, the damage in Washington, DC is already undeniable. From threatening local autonomy to J-6 insurrectionists getting off the hook, the nation's capital is under siege.
Guest co-host Bridget Todd, host of There Are No Girls On The Internet, joins Weird Little Guys’ Molly Conger to break down what’s happening in DC—and why the rest of the country can’t afford to look away.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Also media, Welcome to another episode if it can happen here.
I am your guest co host Bridget Todd, host of
There Are No Girls on the Internet.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm joined by the.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Lovely Molly, host of award winning podcast on Pool Zone,
Weird Little Guys.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Molly, how you doing great?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Glad to be here in bridget Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
So I wish we were here to talk about all
the exciting stuff going on in your life. But I
wanted to bring this topic to the it could happen
here audience because I live.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
In the district.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I know you're a Virginia Gail, so you might know
a little bit more about how it works in the
district than your average person. But I don't know that
people really understand what is happening to residents of the
District of Columbia like myself. So I live in DC,
I've lived here for most of my life. I have
a lot of like hometown pride. This is not just
where I happen to live. It's like my city, my home.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
And you don't have representation, It's true, right, It's something
that infuriates me.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And so so you know, the first thing to know
about DC is that it's not a state. So that
means that what happens federally has a huge impact on
the day to day minutia of the life of people
like me who live in the district. If you don't
live in the district, when it comes to decisions about
how your like local tax dollars are spent, that usually
(01:19):
lies with like your state and local leaders. That's not
really the case for me and the other like over
half a million residents of the district. All of this
has made worse but the fact that we are essentially
disenfranchised just like you said, right, all of this stuff
is playing out in our home, like all of these
big national conversations are happening in our own backyard, and
we arguably have less electoral power and agency because we
(01:42):
aren't a state.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Fun fact, DC residents only.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Got the right to vote in nineteen sixty one in
presidential elections. What I know, Like I didn't know that
we have not been voting in presidential elections for very
long when you think about it, in the fullness of time.
So when people are like, oh, you know, call your
congress person, call you're lesson official to oppose X y
Z we really have like nobody to call our congressional representative,
(02:06):
Eleanor Holmes. Norton cannot vote on bills that are being
considered by the full House, and so we really just
like don't have us say whenever those big campaigns are
going on. I'm like, oh, it must be nice to
have even if that person ignores you, it must be
nice to have someone you can call.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Wouldn't know, it always seems disrespectful to be like, oh, yeah,
you guys, you guys have a representative. But it doesn't
do anything exactly. It's just vibes.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
It's just vibes.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So all of this matters for Trump's return to my
hometown because as President, Trump has a lot more authority
to dictate how things are run locally for DC residents
like myself. You know, we all know that the Trump
administration is hell bent on making all of our lives worse.
But imagine if Trump was also in charge of how
your local police force in your city policed your city,
(02:52):
Like that would.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Be horrible, right, that sounds a good nightmare.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
And that is that threat is like literally the reality
that we are here in DC. So there's been some
pretty big changes this time around in the Trump administration.
During his first administration, I feel like Trump largely ignored DC,
like he would pick a fight every now and then,
but he didn't really seem to meddle and how DC
was run like locally, that does not mean that he
(03:18):
was not like out in the district doing terrible things,
which he very much was. You might recall in twenty twenty,
during the racial Justice uprisings in the wake of George
Floyd's death, Trump cleared protesters using chemical agents so that
he could go out in front of Saint John's Church.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And like post upside down Bible, side down Bible. Remember
that distressing.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
It was distressing. I was there that.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Day, and I'll say, like it was like genuinely very excessive.
I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of it,
but in the after mess of that event, internal reports
made it clear that like it wasn't exactly clear what
happened and under what authority, Like was it DC's local
police force, Metropolitan PD, was it Park Police? Like It
really underscored the tensions of DC locally versus the federal government.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And it doesn't help that there's half a dozen different
police forces operating on any given block of d C.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Oh my god, girl, Like you genuinely never know when
you see flashing blue and red lights, you genuinely is like,
this could be federal, Like this could be federal.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
You never know if I just committed a federal traffic
violation exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
And so the New York Times actually described that event
as quote a burst of violence unlike any scene in
the shadow of the White House in generations, and possibly
one of the defining moments of the Trump presidency. And
so I remember that as like a moment that played
out nationally, but also it.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Felt very local and like I think it.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Underscored how we really felt the impacts of how militarized
the city could locally get during Trump's first administration.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So that was like something that really sticks out to me.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
I mean, I I rarely visit d C because I'm
afraid of traffic, Like just the act of driving to
through northern Virginia too yet to d C is too
frightening for me, So I try not to go. But
I think people who don't live in the area don't
think of DC as a place where people live. They
don't think of it as anyone's home, right It's like
Congress lives there, the laws live there, but like a
(05:18):
lot of people live there, people who have nothing to
do with the federal government, mostly a lot of black people. Honestly,
I mean.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
DC used to be called chocolate City for a reason.
These things were more like like a latte city. But exactly,
I can confirm that people don't think of the you know,
over half a million DC residents who have nothing to
do with the federal government, sometimes who nothing with politics,
who justike live here and is our home, Like I
was born in DC, like this is I didn't just
(05:45):
you know, move here to work in politics, like my
family can be traced back to our roots in the
district through generations. And so I have a be in
my bonnet about this because I feel very unseen, and
I think the way that the Trump administration is playing out,
I feel like the reporting really can sometimes overlook the
way that this is playing out in the lie the
(06:07):
life of your average you know, DC resident who might
have nothing to do with politics or you know, the
federal government.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Like seventh graders trying to get to middle school.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Exactly that exactly that so during Trump's first administration, after
the incident at Saint John's Church.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Our mayor, DC's Mayor, Muriel Bowser. She's still the mayor.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
She's still the mayor. She's still the mayor. She's old
and strong.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
She erected what became known as Black Lives Matter Plaza,
where she wrote black Lives Matter in like big yellow
letters outside of the White House.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You remember this.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I've had some unpleasant experiences in that zone.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yes, yes, you and me both. This could be a
separate conversation.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And so I will say when she did that, it
was largely like a symbolic move, and a lot of
DC activists thought the mayor was kind of co opting
or racial justice ethos that she didn't really embody and practice.
But I do think that that really is at the
tone for the mayor's relationship with Trump during his first term.
Like she was defiant, she was someone who was going
to stand up to him publicly. And something to know
(07:12):
about DC's Mayor Muriel Bauser is that she kinda.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Has two modes.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Defiant like the version of herself that painted Black Lives
Matter outside of the Trump White House, and then sort
of diplomatic, right, like somebody who like wants to find
common ground, which I think is the is the version
of her that we're seeing this time around that is
very different than how she was the last time around,
Like she started trump second term sort of counting the
(07:37):
goals they have in common, and like she met with
him even before he was in office. And so I
have a lot of critiques about DC's marriage, like anybody
would have their political leader.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
But I do think it is.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Important that folks understand that she is navigating something that
literally no other lected official in the United States has
to because of DC's lack of statehood. Like we our
city is uniquely threatened by Trump, and she knows this,
and Trump knows this, and so she really has to
like walk a tight rope, greased and shit if you will.
(08:08):
She's like navigating this public relationship with an unstable, lying
fascist and has to do so in a way that's
going to end up with like what's best for the city.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
So you could say whatever you want.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
About mayor Bouser, like I certainly do, but this is
a complicated thing to navigate.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I do not advocate.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
For anybody complying in advance with a fascist, but in
this situation, I do think it's fair to ask life
well would being defiant toward Trump make things worse for
DC residents like.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Myself, but it results in martial law in the city.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Exactly exactly, So like I don't like it, but I
get it. I guess if there was like a mantra
for my feelings on this, it's like I don't like
it at all, but.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
It's a no win situation.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
It is a no win situation.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And you know, Trump spent even when he was on
the campaign trail before he was president, he talked this
time around about how he was planning to take over
the city and because DC is on a state like,
any president does have the authority to interfere with how
DC is run. Like any president can take over the
police department and the powers of the mayor and in
the DC City Council. Any president has the power to
(09:16):
federalize DC's like local police force, metropolitan police, deputize the
National Guard, and give law enforcement powers in DC, and
activate the military and federal law enforcement agencies such as
the Park Police in DC.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So oh, I didn't need so, Like the governor of
any state has control of their national guard, but DC
has its own national guard, right correct?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And that you don't have.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
A governor, so those are the President's national Guard.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
That's not great.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So it's not great. It's not great.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And you know the prospect of just just like let
that sink in, the prospect of Trump having its own
military and police force in the district. Like, I cannot
tell you how much this terrifies me. Like I cannot
stress to listeners how much of as shit hitting the
fan moment this would be for the city to give
you a sense, like I have a go bag, and
I like, get the fuck out plan for that scenario
(10:05):
playing out.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Virginia's so close you no, I mean yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Honestly, anybody in the DMV, if you're in Maryland, Virginia,
you should all be thinking about this. The Trump has
continued to like pressure the mayor and threatening to like
take over if she will not do the things that
(10:30):
he says, things like clean up the city.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Trump notified Mayor Bowser that.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
She has to clean up all the unsightly homeless encampments
in the district, especially around federal buildings. If she is
not capable of doing so, we will be forced to
do it for her, he said. And so far, her
strategy has really been one of like quiet appeasement, so
that Black Lives Matter plaza that she erected in defiance
during his first term that came down.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Did it really they'd painted over it.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I think they paint they dismantle. I think that they
were like, Oh, we're going to like take it up
so that it can go someplace else, but we're removing
it from this part of the city, if that make sense.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
That's I mean, that's a symbolic moment, right, just like
pouring the asphalt over the words black Lives Matter.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Yeah, And I do really think it it underscores this
moment that we're in right now.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Where it does? I mean, I'm curious for your thoughts.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
It does sort of feel like a pendulum swing in
some ways where all of these like largely symbolic gestures
are now like being bulldozed over, oftentimes like voluntarily, like
without even really being pressured into doing so.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Right.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
I guess it's hard, right because like painting Black Lives
Matter on the sidewalk did nothing for black people, right,
Like did that help you to that materially improve your life? No,
it was purely symbolic. But negating that symbolic gesture I
think does a lot more harm than never having had
it right, because that is a that is an imposition
of of will over over. It was again a symbol
(12:01):
that did nothing and accomplished nothing and didn't actually help
anyone or change any situation. But taking the time out
of your day to bulldoze that symbol sends a strong message.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I feel the exact same way, and Republican Representative Andrew
Clyde actually wants it to go further. He introduced a
bill that would have amended the US Code to withhold
certain funds from DC unless Black Lives Matter was taken
off the street and that area was renamed quote Liberty
Plaza and for the district to remove all Black Lives
Matter Plaza references from city websites and official documents. So
(12:34):
they want to like memory hol it and be like
it never happened.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
That's such cribyby bullshit too for the like these free
speech warriors right like, oh the facts, don't care about
your feelings. Free see the most important thing, like the
marketplace of ideas, Like I guess you can't compete in
the marketplace of ideas.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Buckoh exactly, Clyde said, quote it's time for our nation
to leave this failed agenda behind, starting with the removal
BLM Plaza from America's capital. Trump is what one hundred
percent right, we must clean up for the American people.
I believe that removing blm Plaza must be part of
this critical effort. After all, BLM is a radical defund
the police organization.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
But we are not a defund the police nation.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
So I know this. You know, clean up the city
rhetoric is sort of fascist in and of itself, like
that that's scary rhetor regardless, but pairing it with like
back to back in the same breath, like we have
to clean up the city, we have to get rid
of BLM plaza. Like are you saying being reminded that
black people have civil liberties is dirty to you? That
that's what's making the city dirty is the black people.
(13:32):
I would argue that's exactly what he's saying.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
But DC is like getting upset about black people. It's
like go into the beach and getting upset with when
they're sand right. It's like, we could have a whole
conversation about DC's demographics, but like a, we are.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
A black city, like that is what makes DC what
it is?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Is like why I continue to live here, right, So, like,
I think that's exactly what he's saying, is we don't
want our nation's capital to be one that honors the
you know, agency of black people, black bodies, and black lives.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Right, Like, I think that's like what he said, then
moved the White House to South Boston. I guess I
don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So, you know, the mayor pretty quickly relented and bielm
plazas no more. She basically said, like, you know, we've
got bigger fish to fry, like focusing on DC's autonomy
and budget, and to be honest, like a lot of
residents agreed with her that like it probably was not
worth the fight.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
That's kind of that's kind of the theme here is.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
That all of these little things that individually are probably
not worth the fight, but then collectively you're like, well.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Who is sort of in charge of this city?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You know, when if none of these little things are
worth the fight? Are you fighting?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
That's a great question. Are you fighting? If nothing is
worth the fight? Are you fighting?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
And I feel like that's kind of I don't know,
on a larger scale, sort of the National Democratic Party's
line has always been. We got to keep her power dry.
We gotta keep her power dry, keep it drive for
fucking what dog right, You're gonna end the war, you know,
with the pile of bodies and a bunch of dry powder.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
So the next demand that Trump made a bows Or
was the need to clear homeless encampments near the White House,
saying that if Bowser didn't do it, he would.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Be forced to do it for her.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
So within hours of Trump's call to Bowser, DC city
crews arrived at these encampments to tell residents they had
to be out the next day. It's not great, like,
to be clear, it is not like our mayor does
not clear encampments in DC. In fact, her administration said
they have been planning to clear the encampment in question,
but just doing so in like a more planned, rolled
out way. So it's not like she's like someone who
(15:28):
is not, you know, down with clearing encampments. The Washington
Post spoke to some of the people who were residents
of those encampments when they were cleared. Shelley Byer's is
someone they spoke to who has been chronically homeless in
DC for three years. She was living at an encampment
that was cleared in twenty twenty three before winding up
at the one that Trump wanted cleared, and she said
they were basically given no notice that they needed to vacate.
(15:49):
She said, now we have only less than twenty four
hours to get out, as she threw her clothing out
of her tent.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
I liked it here.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
They keep shoving us off from place to place, making
it so we don't have anywhere to go. The post
also to the president of Miriam's Kitchen, which is a
big nonprofit here in DC that provides services for the homeless,
and he said that it wasn't even clear, like he
wasn't even sure if the city followed proper protocols with
this hasty encampment clearing at Trump's direction. Encampment residents are
(16:15):
meant to be given two weeks notice, but people who
were cleared so that they only learned about that action
within twenty four hours. And so I think that's part
of the issue here. DC, like any city, has issues
like crime and homelessness, but like hitting people housed takes time,
like just wanting to quickly move people who might have
anywhere else to go because they look as Trump said,
(16:37):
unseemly or unsightly is not solving the problem. What you're
actually doing is just traumatizing people who are already vulnerable
and then forcing them to go elsewhere, exactly like that
woman told the post.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Really, even in the best case scenario, even the most
organized clearing of an encampment is I mean, it's violent,
and it's inhumane, and it doesn't really serve a greater
purpose other than I don't know, so that people don't
have to think about homelessness on their way to work.
But there is a way to do it that is,
at least theoretically could result in something that is not monstrous,
(17:09):
you know what I mean. Like I said, there's no
good way to clear an encampment unless you're giving everyone
an apartment. But right like, you're giving people two weeks notice,
let's social services get involved, lets them go, you know,
tent to tent for those two weeks, talking to people
about where they could go, giving them options, connecting them
with services if that's what they choose. But if you're
just rolling up overnight and throwing people's show a way,
(17:30):
you're not You're not solving a problem. You're not even
trying to solve a problem. You're not even pretending that
you're trying to solve a problem.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
But I think that's exactly how Trump thinks about this issue.
It's just like looks bad and unseemly to him. So
I don't care where they go. I don't care how
you do it, just I don't want to be looking.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
At them, right, because for him, it's not about getting
these people connected to services so that they might eventually
find stable housing. It's about I don't want to fucking
see these people because they're gross, exactly.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
And like he is encroaching on how our city is run, right,
and so like if that is the ethos that you have,
I don't want to see these gross people. I don't
care where they go. This is not an ethos that
that responsibly is able to run a city like that.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Like that is really disruptive. Yeah, it's absolutely disruptive because
they'll go somewhere else. They'll go somewhere else, and now
they now their lives have been uprooted, they don't have
maybe the documents got thrown away, and it's going to
be even harder for them to find stability. Like you
have not addressed the problem.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Exactly, and I think that's what that's like the name
of the game. With the way that Trump has already been,
you know, meddling in the way that DC runs its
local affairs. This next example, I got to say, it
really gets to me. So DC's Attorney General Ryan Schwab
recently dropped a lawsuit against the Proud Boys and the
(18:42):
Oathkeepers for their behavior during January sid So. The suit
was initially filed by the former DC Attorney General carl A.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Racine.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
It initially marks the first effort by a government agency
to hold the individuals and organizations civilly liable for violence
at the Capitol on January sixth, but a federal judge
in DC granted the district's request to dismiss that case.
The suit was fashioned after a modern version of the
eighteen seventy one law known as the klu Klux klan
At that was enacted after the Civil War to safeguard
(19:10):
government officials carrying out their duties to protect civil rights.
This was actually a similar challenge that prevailed against groups
involved in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, which Molly,
I know you might know a thing or two about.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Let's just see very familiar with Clan Act lawsuits, and
they are effective. They're effective. It's one of the only
things that we still have from reconstruction that hasn't been
taken away from us is this civil remedy for civil
rights violations. And it works. It works, but like you
have to carry it out, and.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Basically the city decided that it wasn't worth it given
all of the threats to DC's autonomy by the Trump administration.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
So it's extortion. I mean, yeah, like that's exactly what
it feels like. I mean, this is extortion. They're being prevented,
they're being prevented from seeking a viable civil remedy through
the courts out of fear of retaliation. That seems very bad.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's like, I mean, I'm glad that you use the
word extortion, because it really does feel like if you've
seen one of my favorite movies, Goodfellas, it feels like
what Henry Hill the mobster calls real grease ball shit, right, like, ooh,
great city you have here. It would be a shame
if something were to uh happen to it.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Like extortion, right, God. But usually, I mean, sometimes you
get something out of a protection racket. DC's not even
fucking getting anything out of it.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I guess you could argue that they are like not
raising the iyre further of the Trump administration, and that
like that might lead to DC having more autonomy and
like DC, you know, like Trump officials not meddling in
DC's affairs.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
I mean, I don't know if any of these people
have read a book, but appeasing of fascist is historically
not resulted in you getting what you want.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
No, And I gotta be honest, girl, this one's fucking stung.
Like it sucks hearing people like the Proud Boys leader
Enrique Terrio basically brad about having this case dropped. The
oath Keeper's founder, Stuart Rhodes, his attorney, said, we are
very pleased to see the District of Columbia has come
to the same conclusion that the American public and President
Trump have the narrative that January sixth was some sort
(21:12):
of armed insurrection to overthrow the government plus falls from
the very beginning. Enriquetario posted after the district requested to
dismiss this lawsuit, saying another exoneration. If God is with us,
who can be against us? Like he just chaps my
ass to hear this shit.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Like, God didn't do this, baby, God didn't do this.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
You also have DC's Metro Police investigating the vandalization of
tesla's as a hate crime. This again, like it really
makes me wonder, Like, as far as I know, Trump
is not in charge of our Metropolitan Police department, but
stuff like this makes me wonder.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
We're like, is he kind of in charge?
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I mean, pressure's clearly being exerien correct.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Basically, if somebody wrote quote political hate speech on a Tesla,
the statement from the Metropolitan Police departments that they were
investigating these offends as being motivated by hate or bias.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
To be clear, Mayor Bowser was like, I.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Didn't tell them to do this, Like she was like,
I have nothing to do with the police department's decision
making on this, Like that's them.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I hate crime typically implicates a protected class like race, gender, religion,
national origin. What is the protected class of being a
Tesla owner? It's like it's being a big loser of protected.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Class unclear, And they wouldn't even say, like, what was
the nature of what was written on this car that
made it a potential hate crime?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
We don't even know, which.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Is so funny. Because these guys never believed in hate
crimes before.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Unless it's against like Elon Musk and people who like
him something.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
That's the best I can figure.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
But I've heard full throadd arguments against the existence of
the category of hate crime, and now suddenly they're very important. Yeah,
now they're very important, and I.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Do think, I mean, like, when I heard about this,
it really made me think about how different categories of
crime and legislation around it is like very well intended
and well meaning, and like I understand who hate crime
just is meant to protect, but then you also have
the ways that it can be sort of like perverted
to protect a protected class.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
That is not a protected class, right, like it, I mean,
it's the same as the language around terrorism, right that, Like,
terrorism wasn't something that we were talking about or charging.
It's not even very well defined in the law, to
be honest, But it's something that became part of the
conversation when America became very afraid of Muslims, became very
afraid of Middle Eastern people, right, So terrorism had that
implication for a very long time, and then there was
(23:28):
this brief window in the last couple of years where
they were using it against domestic white extremists. And now
they're not doing that anymore, and they're just going to
charge you with terrorism for looking sideways at a Tesla exactly.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Here's how my co host and friend Michael Shaeffer, who
writes the Capital City's column for Political put it. He says,
now the White House is beating the drums about Tesla vandalism,
creating another incentive for locals to play ball. The FBI
director called tesla vandalism domestic terrorism. The President suggested sending
vandals to jail and l Salvador if likening the run
of the mill political graffiti to criminal bigotry. It's what
(24:01):
it takes to keep the FEDS from padlocking city Hall.
The logic goes, maybe it's worth it.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
No, it's not.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I would say it's not.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
No, it's not Maybe they want to do through you
extraordinary rendition to vandals, but maybe it's worth No, it's
not worth it.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's not worth it.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
You're not gonna you're not holding back the tide of
fascism if you allow fascism to happen.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Unlike local governments in Cleveland or Boston, DC is really
stuck between a rock and a hard place. And I mean, like,
I understand why city officials are taking this like appeasement angle.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
But like I guess, as you said, like, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
How you can make the argument that it's like worth it, Like,
what are we getting if every single day it's going
to be a new threat to DC's autonomy, a new
threat to DC, a new EO from the Trump administration?
Speaker 2 (24:49):
What are we.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Really getting by playing ball in this way?
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Right?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
And if you're saying you're saving your energy for the
big fight, it's like, well, what do you think the
big fight is going to be If it's not the
slow erosion of the safety and civil liberties of everyone
who lives here. Exactly what is the big fight?
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, some might say the big fight is DC's tense
budget showdown, which is ongoing.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
It's a little in the weedze, So like, I'm not
going to get too too.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Into it, but I'll try to give the quick and
dirty version of what's going on. The district is overseen
by Congress thanks to provision in the Constitution, So this
means that DC is occasionally treated like a federal agency
rather than like a city or a local government under
various laws. This used to mean that DC's budget was
regularly delayed. Because of this, the city had to wait
for Congress to approve DC's local budget alongside other federal agencies,
(25:44):
which Congress is like almost never does on time. So
pretty much everybody agreed like this was a problem, So
in the early two thousands, they changed it so that
if Congress was behind schedule, DC could just keep spending
at its current budget levels without disruption until Congress is
able to formally prove a new budget. But in March
that all changed because the language was omitted from a
(26:05):
new funding bill that Congress passed in March that would
basically force DC to omit one billion dollars from its budget.
Just to be clear, like, if DC were to omit
one billion dollars from the budget, we basically could not
function as a city. The things that you need to
run a city, schools, garbage collection, all of that would
be cut to the point of like not being viable.
I'm not even sure what that would mean for the
(26:27):
city to make that deep of a cut. And the
worst part is nobody really knows why Congress did this. Like,
in my capacity as co host for a local DC podcast,
City CASDC. I've spoken to a lot of people in
DC government and reporters, and the best I can come
up with is that Congress just really does not understand
(26:47):
what they have done. A reporter that I spoke to
you said that there seemed to be confusion with lawmakers
that we were talking about DC's local tax money and
not federal money. And so this was happening in March,
during the height of like those efficiency I'm putting efficiency
in like heavy scare quotes.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
It was at the height of that, and so the best.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
I could think was that lawmakers thought, like, oh, this
will we will be able to like say that, you know,
making DC cut a billion dollars from the budget will
be a big show of federal tax dollar savings.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
But we're not talking about federal money.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
We're talking about local tax money, not federal money. Doesn't
save anybody any federal money. And so I think that
from what I've heard, it sounds like people like Mike
Johnson just maybe like did not really have a good
understanding of that.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
It is a little bit complicated, but like if you're
a lawmaker, like come on, dude, But.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Again, because you have no representative who is really involved
in this process, Like there's nobody in that room going
to bat for DC. There's nobody in that room whose
constituency is DC who understands what it means to run
DC exactly.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
And what's funny is that, Like for all the talk
about like how how like we're not a defund the
police nation, this bill would kind of defund a police.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
It would have to mean who defund everything?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
I mean like it would mean like sixty seven million
dollars caught from the DC police budget, along with cutting
funding for DC public schools and the Department of Human Services,
which serves the city's forest residents. Right, So, like it
would defund everything, including the police. So it's like funny
to be like, we're not down with defund the police,
but we are down with this bill that kind of
does it.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
We're like, who do you think is gonna fill the potholes?
Who's gonna mow the grass? Like nothing will get done,
the city will fall apart.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Well, So our mayor has really been doing her diplomacy
thing and appealing to exactly that, right, Like Trump has
been really clear about all these goals he has for
the district, like beautifying DC and cracking down on crime
and homelessness. There is no way to do that if
you are slashing the budgets of these departments that are
meant to work on those things by tens of millions
of dollars.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Who's gonna prune the cherry trees? Donald, I mean, ifo's
gonna prove.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Almost as if Trump doesn't really care about doing any
of this stuff. He's just like talking big and doesn't
give a shit about how it actually plays out.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
He doesn't know how anything works.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah, I mean that's really the bottom line for me
is that when you have Trump really loudly talking about
the ways that he is meddling in the way that
DC is run. He's not someone who is good at
efficiently governing. And so like, you know, say what you
know about DC. We had a function we have a
functioning local government, a functioning city. Putting somebody like Trump
(29:19):
in charge of how things get done. What happens to encampments,
what happens to education, what happens to Crome Like, like.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
That's just a terrible, terrible move for the city.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
I mean it's like, you know, at a shitty retail job,
you get a new assistant store manager and they try
to change the way the schedule gets made, just so
they can look like they're doing something, so they can
feel like they're in charge. And it's like, yeah, dog,
that's just not how things work at this store, Like
it won't function if the keyholder doesn't open.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
I wish I could tell Trump that, Like I'm taken
back to my days of working retail at the mall
or where you could just be like, actually, Greg, that's
not how it works here at this Claire's.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
I used to work at Claires.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
It just won't work like that. Like I know, so
you're very important and you're in charge here, but it's
just like it won't work.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
It won't work.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
So yeah, I mean, as of today, there has not
been a vote on DC's budget. Trump actually signaled that
he is on board for a fix that would prevent
this billion dollar cut, and he urged the Senate to
vote for it. He posted, the House should take up
the DC funding fix that the Senate passed and get
it done immediately, all caps. But everybody's on recess and
so in the meantime, like it's not clear what's going
(30:27):
to happen. And the city did announce that they're looking
at making cuts and furlowing staff because it's not clear
what's going to happen. So, you know, so it's not
that the city doesn't have them. It's not like the
city's broke. Like the city has the money, they're just
not allowed to budget it.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Yes, exactly that and for no reason.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Problem.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
It's a fake it's a fake problem. But again, I
don't know that people like Mike Johnson understand that there
are people who live here who you know, just want
to have their trash pickn out this, want to be
able to educate their kids, just want to be able
to like live our lives in the city. And I
think I said this on happened here before. But I
have to feel like it's punitive, right like DC nobody
(31:06):
didn't vote for Trump, Like DC didn't vote for Trump,
like you know, Nicky Hayley won DC's Republican primary, not
even Trump, right, so like we have made it very
clear that we don't like him and we don't want
him here. And I guess I just have to say
the only thing that makes sense as to why Congress
would do this, it's punitive.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
This to be like fuck DC.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
And the progressive, hippie, dippy educated people who live there,
Like it just feels like like a punitive attack on
the district.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
But again just like shooting themselves in the dick because
like if the city falls apart, like you still work here,
you still have to drive on the streets here.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Well, I mean, if Trump gets his way and DC
just becomes like a instead of a city, like a
military compound that is controlled by like his goons.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Right, Like it's sort of like a Trump Vatican City
where he's the king of this little tiny country.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
That is my ultimate biggest fear about what is on
the horizon, And for DC, that is like the ultimate
ultimate like negative fear that I have.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
And I guess bottom line is like this.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Is why DC needs statehoods, Like we are facing such
unique threats from the Trump administration that no other place
in the United States faces. You know, there are a
million reasons for DC to become a state, but this
just I think that the way that Trump is acting
toward our city, toward our our mayor toward our council
with regards to our budget, like it all just makes
(32:29):
so much sense that our residents should not be at
the behest of somebody like Trump to have our.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
City run the way that we want it to be run.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
And yeah, it just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense.
It doesn't mean the city should be able to make
its own budget. There's no reason for it to function
like this.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
There is no reason for it. So from your lips
to God's ears.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Yeah, So, like, I guess what should people look for?
Like what's the next step in this process? Like when's
the next vote on this?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
So when lawmakers are back in set, we should have
some sense of what's going on with DC's budget. The
thing I would end with is like give a shit
about DC, Like, don't be somebody who perpetuates the idea
that the only thing happening in DC is like national politics,
and like where national conversations are happening, because you know,
there are six hundred thousand people who live here and
(33:20):
we want to be able to control our city and
control our tax money. Like I pay taxes just like
anybody else, and it's ridiculous that I get less of
a say.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Than everybody else.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
So if you don't live in DC and you hear
about Congress or the Senate voting on stuff that impacts
DC residents, like you might hear about them voting on
the DC budget fixed bill. You can call your representatives
and advocate on our behalf and kind of be our
voice because we don't really get one. Hopefully this all
gives you a sense of what's at stake for us,
So please give a shit about DC.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Give a shit about DC, and hopefully you guys still
have garbage services.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Molly, thank you for running through all of this with me.
You're such a good co host.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Yeah, this was fun. Yeah, I listened to Bridges' podcasts.
There are no girls on the internet listen to Weird
Little Guys, a Webby Award winning podcast.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yes, so deserved. Are you like keeping your wedding secret?
Is that something I can talk about?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Well?
Speaker 3 (34:15):
I did tell the listeners, just because there's gonna be
some reruns coming out. I'm getting married soon, so I
will be out of town for a little bit. But yeah,
so I got a lot going on. I got my
Weird Little Guys, I got my weird little wedding. Well, congratulations.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I was telling you off Mike that, like, I love
it when women who do work in the like extremism
right wing space have happy, thriving personal lives.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
So it brings me a lot of joy.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Deeply, congratulations, thank you. Yeah, I am experiencing a lot
of joy.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
You deserve it. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
It Could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media.
For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website
Coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts can now
find sources for it Could Happen Here, listed directly in
episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.
Also media, Welcome to another episode if it can happen here.
I am your guest co host Bridget Todd, host of
There Are No Girls on the Internet.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm joined by the.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Lovely Molly, host of award winning podcast on Pool Zone,
Weird Little Guys.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Molly, how you doing great?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Glad to be here in bridget Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
So I wish we were here to talk about all
the exciting stuff going on in your life. But I
wanted to bring this topic to the it could happen
here audience because I live.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
In the district.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I know you're a Virginia Gail, so you might know
a little bit more about how it works in the
district than your average person. But I don't know that
people really understand what is happening to residents of the
District of Columbia like myself. So I live in DC,
I've lived here for most of my life. I have
a lot of like hometown pride. This is not just
where I happen to live. It's like my city, my home.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
And you don't have representation, It's true, right, It's something
that infuriates me.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And so so you know, the first thing to know
about DC is that it's not a state. So that
means that what happens federally has a huge impact on
the day to day minutia of the life of people
like me who live in the district. If you don't
live in the district, when it comes to decisions about
how your like local tax dollars are spent, that usually
(01:19):
lies with like your state and local leaders. That's not
really the case for me and the other like over
half a million residents of the district. All of this
has made worse but the fact that we are essentially
disenfranchised just like you said, right, all of this stuff
is playing out in our home, like all of these
big national conversations are happening in our own backyard, and
we arguably have less electoral power and agency because we
(01:42):
aren't a state.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Fun fact, DC residents only.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Got the right to vote in nineteen sixty one in
presidential elections. What I know, Like I didn't know that
we have not been voting in presidential elections for very
long when you think about it, in the fullness of time.
So when people are like, oh, you know, call your
congress person, call you're lesson official to oppose X y
Z we really have like nobody to call our congressional representative,
(02:06):
Eleanor Holmes. Norton cannot vote on bills that are being
considered by the full House, and so we really just
like don't have us say whenever those big campaigns are
going on. I'm like, oh, it must be nice to
have even if that person ignores you, it must be
nice to have someone you can call.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Wouldn't know, it always seems disrespectful to be like, oh, yeah,
you guys, you guys have a representative. But it doesn't
do anything exactly. It's just vibes.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
It's just vibes.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So all of this matters for Trump's return to my
hometown because as President, Trump has a lot more authority
to dictate how things are run locally for DC residents
like myself. You know, we all know that the Trump
administration is hell bent on making all of our lives worse.
But imagine if Trump was also in charge of how
your local police force in your city policed your city,
(02:52):
Like that would.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Be horrible, right, that sounds a good nightmare.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
And that is that threat is like literally the reality
that we are here in DC. So there's been some
pretty big changes this time around in the Trump administration.
During his first administration, I feel like Trump largely ignored DC,
like he would pick a fight every now and then,
but he didn't really seem to meddle and how DC
was run like locally, that does not mean that he
(03:18):
was not like out in the district doing terrible things,
which he very much was. You might recall in twenty twenty,
during the racial Justice uprisings in the wake of George
Floyd's death, Trump cleared protesters using chemical agents so that
he could go out in front of Saint John's Church.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And like post upside down Bible, side down Bible. Remember
that distressing.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
It was distressing. I was there that.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Day, and I'll say, like it was like genuinely very excessive.
I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of it,
but in the after mess of that event, internal reports
made it clear that like it wasn't exactly clear what
happened and under what authority, Like was it DC's local
police force, Metropolitan PD, was it Park Police? Like It
really underscored the tensions of DC locally versus the federal government.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And it doesn't help that there's half a dozen different
police forces operating on any given block of d C.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Oh my god, girl, Like you genuinely never know when
you see flashing blue and red lights, you genuinely is like,
this could be federal, Like this could be federal.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
You never know if I just committed a federal traffic
violation exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
And so the New York Times actually described that event
as quote a burst of violence unlike any scene in
the shadow of the White House in generations, and possibly
one of the defining moments of the Trump presidency. And
so I remember that as like a moment that played
out nationally, but also it.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Felt very local and like I think it.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Underscored how we really felt the impacts of how militarized
the city could locally get during Trump's first administration.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So that was like something that really sticks out to me.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
I mean, I I rarely visit d C because I'm
afraid of traffic, Like just the act of driving to
through northern Virginia too yet to d C is too
frightening for me, So I try not to go. But
I think people who don't live in the area don't
think of DC as a place where people live. They
don't think of it as anyone's home, right It's like
Congress lives there, the laws live there, but like a
(05:18):
lot of people live there, people who have nothing to
do with the federal government, mostly a lot of black people. Honestly,
I mean.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
DC used to be called chocolate City for a reason.
These things were more like like a latte city. But exactly,
I can confirm that people don't think of the you know,
over half a million DC residents who have nothing to
do with the federal government, sometimes who nothing with politics,
who justike live here and is our home, Like I
was born in DC, like this is I didn't just
(05:45):
you know, move here to work in politics, like my
family can be traced back to our roots in the
district through generations. And so I have a be in
my bonnet about this because I feel very unseen, and
I think the way that the Trump administration is playing out,
I feel like the reporting really can sometimes overlook the
way that this is playing out in the lie the
(06:07):
life of your average you know, DC resident who might
have nothing to do with politics or you know, the
federal government.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Like seventh graders trying to get to middle school.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Exactly that exactly that so during Trump's first administration, after
the incident at Saint John's Church.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Our mayor, DC's Mayor, Muriel Bowser. She's still the mayor.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
She's still the mayor. She's still the mayor. She's old
and strong.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
She erected what became known as Black Lives Matter Plaza,
where she wrote black Lives Matter in like big yellow
letters outside of the White House.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You remember this.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I've had some unpleasant experiences in that zone.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yes, yes, you and me both. This could be a
separate conversation.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And so I will say when she did that, it
was largely like a symbolic move, and a lot of
DC activists thought the mayor was kind of co opting
or racial justice ethos that she didn't really embody and practice.
But I do think that that really is at the
tone for the mayor's relationship with Trump during his first term.
Like she was defiant, she was someone who was going
to stand up to him publicly. And something to know
(07:12):
about DC's Mayor Muriel Bauser is that she kinda.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Has two modes.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Defiant like the version of herself that painted Black Lives
Matter outside of the Trump White House, and then sort
of diplomatic, right, like somebody who like wants to find
common ground, which I think is the is the version
of her that we're seeing this time around that is
very different than how she was the last time around,
Like she started trump second term sort of counting the
(07:37):
goals they have in common, and like she met with
him even before he was in office. And so I
have a lot of critiques about DC's marriage, like anybody
would have their political leader.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
But I do think it is.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Important that folks understand that she is navigating something that
literally no other lected official in the United States has
to because of DC's lack of statehood. Like we our
city is uniquely threatened by Trump, and she knows this,
and Trump knows this, and so she really has to
like walk a tight rope, greased and shit if you will.
(08:08):
She's like navigating this public relationship with an unstable, lying
fascist and has to do so in a way that's
going to end up with like what's best for the city.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
So you could say whatever you want.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
About mayor Bouser, like I certainly do, but this is
a complicated thing to navigate.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I do not advocate.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
For anybody complying in advance with a fascist, but in
this situation, I do think it's fair to ask life
well would being defiant toward Trump make things worse for
DC residents like.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Myself, but it results in martial law in the city.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Exactly exactly, So like I don't like it, but I
get it. I guess if there was like a mantra
for my feelings on this, it's like I don't like
it at all, but.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
It's a no win situation.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
It is a no win situation.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And you know, Trump spent even when he was on
the campaign trail before he was president, he talked this
time around about how he was planning to take over
the city and because DC is on a state like,
any president does have the authority to interfere with how
DC is run. Like any president can take over the
police department and the powers of the mayor and in
the DC City Council. Any president has the power to
(09:16):
federalize DC's like local police force, metropolitan police, deputize the
National Guard, and give law enforcement powers in DC, and
activate the military and federal law enforcement agencies such as
the Park Police in DC.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So oh, I didn't need so, Like the governor of
any state has control of their national guard, but DC
has its own national guard, right correct?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And that you don't have.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
A governor, so those are the President's national Guard.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
That's not great.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So it's not great. It's not great.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And you know the prospect of just just like let
that sink in, the prospect of Trump having its own
military and police force in the district. Like, I cannot
tell you how much this terrifies me. Like I cannot
stress to listeners how much of as shit hitting the
fan moment this would be for the city to give
you a sense, like I have a go bag, and
I like, get the fuck out plan for that scenario
(10:05):
playing out.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Virginia's so close you no, I mean yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Honestly, anybody in the DMV, if you're in Maryland, Virginia,
you should all be thinking about this. The Trump has
continued to like pressure the mayor and threatening to like
take over if she will not do the things that
(10:30):
he says, things like clean up the city.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Trump notified Mayor Bowser that.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
She has to clean up all the unsightly homeless encampments
in the district, especially around federal buildings. If she is
not capable of doing so, we will be forced to
do it for her, he said. And so far, her
strategy has really been one of like quiet appeasement, so
that Black Lives Matter plaza that she erected in defiance
during his first term that came down.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Did it really they'd painted over it.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I think they paint they dismantle. I think that they
were like, Oh, we're going to like take it up
so that it can go someplace else, but we're removing
it from this part of the city, if that make sense.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
That's I mean, that's a symbolic moment, right, just like
pouring the asphalt over the words black Lives Matter.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Yeah, And I do really think it it underscores this
moment that we're in right now.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Where it does? I mean, I'm curious for your thoughts.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
It does sort of feel like a pendulum swing in
some ways where all of these like largely symbolic gestures
are now like being bulldozed over, oftentimes like voluntarily, like
without even really being pressured into doing so.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Right.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
I guess it's hard, right because like painting Black Lives
Matter on the sidewalk did nothing for black people, right,
Like did that help you to that materially improve your life? No,
it was purely symbolic. But negating that symbolic gesture I
think does a lot more harm than never having had
it right, because that is a that is an imposition
of of will over over. It was again a symbol
(12:01):
that did nothing and accomplished nothing and didn't actually help
anyone or change any situation. But taking the time out
of your day to bulldoze that symbol sends a strong message.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I feel the exact same way, and Republican Representative Andrew
Clyde actually wants it to go further. He introduced a
bill that would have amended the US Code to withhold
certain funds from DC unless Black Lives Matter was taken
off the street and that area was renamed quote Liberty
Plaza and for the district to remove all Black Lives
Matter Plaza references from city websites and official documents. So
(12:34):
they want to like memory hol it and be like
it never happened.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
That's such cribyby bullshit too for the like these free
speech warriors right like, oh the facts, don't care about
your feelings. Free see the most important thing, like the
marketplace of ideas, Like I guess you can't compete in
the marketplace of ideas.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Buckoh exactly, Clyde said, quote it's time for our nation
to leave this failed agenda behind, starting with the removal
BLM Plaza from America's capital. Trump is what one hundred
percent right, we must clean up for the American people.
I believe that removing blm Plaza must be part of
this critical effort. After all, BLM is a radical defund
the police organization.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
But we are not a defund the police nation.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
So I know this. You know, clean up the city
rhetoric is sort of fascist in and of itself, like
that that's scary rhetor regardless, but pairing it with like
back to back in the same breath, like we have
to clean up the city, we have to get rid
of BLM plaza. Like are you saying being reminded that
black people have civil liberties is dirty to you? That
that's what's making the city dirty is the black people.
(13:32):
I would argue that's exactly what he's saying.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
But DC is like getting upset about black people. It's
like go into the beach and getting upset with when
they're sand right. It's like, we could have a whole
conversation about DC's demographics, but like a, we are.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
A black city, like that is what makes DC what
it is?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Is like why I continue to live here, right, So, like,
I think that's exactly what he's saying, is we don't
want our nation's capital to be one that honors the
you know, agency of black people, black bodies, and black lives.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Right, Like, I think that's like what he said, then
moved the White House to South Boston. I guess I
don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So, you know, the mayor pretty quickly relented and bielm
plazas no more. She basically said, like, you know, we've
got bigger fish to fry, like focusing on DC's autonomy
and budget, and to be honest, like a lot of
residents agreed with her that like it probably was not
worth the fight.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
That's kind of that's kind of the theme here is.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
That all of these little things that individually are probably
not worth the fight, but then collectively you're like, well.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Who is sort of in charge of this city?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You know, when if none of these little things are
worth the fight? Are you fighting?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
That's a great question. Are you fighting? If nothing is
worth the fight? Are you fighting?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
And I feel like that's kind of I don't know,
on a larger scale, sort of the National Democratic Party's
line has always been. We got to keep her power dry.
We gotta keep her power dry, keep it drive for
fucking what dog right, You're gonna end the war, you know,
with the pile of bodies and a bunch of dry powder.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
So the next demand that Trump made a bows Or
was the need to clear homeless encampments near the White House,
saying that if Bowser didn't do it, he would.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Be forced to do it for her.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
So within hours of Trump's call to Bowser, DC city
crews arrived at these encampments to tell residents they had
to be out the next day. It's not great, like,
to be clear, it is not like our mayor does
not clear encampments in DC. In fact, her administration said
they have been planning to clear the encampment in question,
but just doing so in like a more planned, rolled
out way. So it's not like she's like someone who
(15:28):
is not, you know, down with clearing encampments. The Washington
Post spoke to some of the people who were residents
of those encampments when they were cleared. Shelley Byer's is
someone they spoke to who has been chronically homeless in
DC for three years. She was living at an encampment
that was cleared in twenty twenty three before winding up
at the one that Trump wanted cleared, and she said
they were basically given no notice that they needed to vacate.
(15:49):
She said, now we have only less than twenty four
hours to get out, as she threw her clothing out
of her tent.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
I liked it here.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
They keep shoving us off from place to place, making
it so we don't have anywhere to go. The post
also to the president of Miriam's Kitchen, which is a
big nonprofit here in DC that provides services for the homeless,
and he said that it wasn't even clear, like he
wasn't even sure if the city followed proper protocols with
this hasty encampment clearing at Trump's direction. Encampment residents are
(16:15):
meant to be given two weeks notice, but people who
were cleared so that they only learned about that action
within twenty four hours. And so I think that's part
of the issue here. DC, like any city, has issues
like crime and homelessness, but like hitting people housed takes time,
like just wanting to quickly move people who might have
anywhere else to go because they look as Trump said,
(16:37):
unseemly or unsightly is not solving the problem. What you're
actually doing is just traumatizing people who are already vulnerable
and then forcing them to go elsewhere, exactly like that
woman told the post.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Really, even in the best case scenario, even the most
organized clearing of an encampment is I mean, it's violent,
and it's inhumane, and it doesn't really serve a greater
purpose other than I don't know, so that people don't
have to think about homelessness on their way to work.
But there is a way to do it that is,
at least theoretically could result in something that is not monstrous,
(17:09):
you know what I mean. Like I said, there's no
good way to clear an encampment unless you're giving everyone
an apartment. But right like, you're giving people two weeks notice,
let's social services get involved, lets them go, you know,
tent to tent for those two weeks, talking to people
about where they could go, giving them options, connecting them
with services if that's what they choose. But if you're
just rolling up overnight and throwing people's show a way,
(17:30):
you're not You're not solving a problem. You're not even
trying to solve a problem. You're not even pretending that
you're trying to solve a problem.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
But I think that's exactly how Trump thinks about this issue.
It's just like looks bad and unseemly to him. So
I don't care where they go. I don't care how
you do it, just I don't want to be looking.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
At them, right, because for him, it's not about getting
these people connected to services so that they might eventually
find stable housing. It's about I don't want to fucking
see these people because they're gross, exactly.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
And like he is encroaching on how our city is run, right,
and so like if that is the ethos that you have,
I don't want to see these gross people. I don't
care where they go. This is not an ethos that
that responsibly is able to run a city like that.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Like that is really disruptive. Yeah, it's absolutely disruptive because
they'll go somewhere else. They'll go somewhere else, and now
they now their lives have been uprooted, they don't have
maybe the documents got thrown away, and it's going to
be even harder for them to find stability. Like you
have not addressed the problem.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Exactly, and I think that's what that's like the name
of the game. With the way that Trump has already been,
you know, meddling in the way that DC runs its
local affairs. This next example, I got to say, it
really gets to me. So DC's Attorney General Ryan Schwab
recently dropped a lawsuit against the Proud Boys and the
(18:42):
Oathkeepers for their behavior during January sid So. The suit
was initially filed by the former DC Attorney General carl A.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Racine.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
It initially marks the first effort by a government agency
to hold the individuals and organizations civilly liable for violence
at the Capitol on January sixth, but a federal judge
in DC granted the district's request to dismiss that case.
The suit was fashioned after a modern version of the
eighteen seventy one law known as the klu Klux klan
At that was enacted after the Civil War to safeguard
(19:10):
government officials carrying out their duties to protect civil rights.
This was actually a similar challenge that prevailed against groups
involved in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, which Molly,
I know you might know a thing or two about.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Let's just see very familiar with Clan Act lawsuits, and
they are effective. They're effective. It's one of the only
things that we still have from reconstruction that hasn't been
taken away from us is this civil remedy for civil
rights violations. And it works. It works, but like you
have to carry it out, and.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Basically the city decided that it wasn't worth it given
all of the threats to DC's autonomy by the Trump administration.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
So it's extortion. I mean, yeah, like that's exactly what
it feels like. I mean, this is extortion. They're being prevented,
they're being prevented from seeking a viable civil remedy through
the courts out of fear of retaliation. That seems very bad.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's like, I mean, I'm glad that you use the
word extortion, because it really does feel like if you've
seen one of my favorite movies, Goodfellas, it feels like
what Henry Hill the mobster calls real grease ball shit, right, like, ooh,
great city you have here. It would be a shame
if something were to uh happen to it.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Like extortion, right, God. But usually, I mean, sometimes you
get something out of a protection racket. DC's not even
fucking getting anything out of it.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I guess you could argue that they are like not
raising the iyre further of the Trump administration, and that
like that might lead to DC having more autonomy and
like DC, you know, like Trump officials not meddling in
DC's affairs.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
I mean, I don't know if any of these people
have read a book, but appeasing of fascist is historically
not resulted in you getting what you want.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
No, And I gotta be honest, girl, this one's fucking stung.
Like it sucks hearing people like the Proud Boys leader
Enrique Terrio basically brad about having this case dropped. The
oath Keeper's founder, Stuart Rhodes, his attorney, said, we are
very pleased to see the District of Columbia has come
to the same conclusion that the American public and President
Trump have the narrative that January sixth was some sort
(21:12):
of armed insurrection to overthrow the government plus falls from
the very beginning. Enriquetario posted after the district requested to
dismiss this lawsuit, saying another exoneration. If God is with us,
who can be against us? Like he just chaps my
ass to hear this shit.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Like, God didn't do this, baby, God didn't do this.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
You also have DC's Metro Police investigating the vandalization of
tesla's as a hate crime. This again, like it really
makes me wonder, Like, as far as I know, Trump
is not in charge of our Metropolitan Police department, but
stuff like this makes me wonder.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
We're like, is he kind of in charge?
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I mean, pressure's clearly being exerien correct.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Basically, if somebody wrote quote political hate speech on a Tesla,
the statement from the Metropolitan Police departments that they were
investigating these offends as being motivated by hate or bias.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
To be clear, Mayor Bowser was like, I.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Didn't tell them to do this, Like she was like,
I have nothing to do with the police department's decision
making on this, Like that's them.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I hate crime typically implicates a protected class like race, gender, religion,
national origin. What is the protected class of being a
Tesla owner? It's like it's being a big loser of protected.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Class unclear, And they wouldn't even say, like, what was
the nature of what was written on this car that
made it a potential hate crime?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
We don't even know, which.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Is so funny. Because these guys never believed in hate
crimes before.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Unless it's against like Elon Musk and people who like
him something.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
That's the best I can figure.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
But I've heard full throadd arguments against the existence of
the category of hate crime, and now suddenly they're very important. Yeah,
now they're very important, and I.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Do think, I mean, like, when I heard about this,
it really made me think about how different categories of
crime and legislation around it is like very well intended
and well meaning, and like I understand who hate crime
just is meant to protect, but then you also have
the ways that it can be sort of like perverted
to protect a protected class.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
That is not a protected class, right, like it, I mean,
it's the same as the language around terrorism, right that, Like,
terrorism wasn't something that we were talking about or charging.
It's not even very well defined in the law, to
be honest, But it's something that became part of the
conversation when America became very afraid of Muslims, became very
afraid of Middle Eastern people, right, So terrorism had that
implication for a very long time, and then there was
(23:28):
this brief window in the last couple of years where
they were using it against domestic white extremists. And now
they're not doing that anymore, and they're just going to
charge you with terrorism for looking sideways at a Tesla exactly.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Here's how my co host and friend Michael Shaeffer, who
writes the Capital City's column for Political put it. He says,
now the White House is beating the drums about Tesla vandalism,
creating another incentive for locals to play ball. The FBI
director called tesla vandalism domestic terrorism. The President suggested sending
vandals to jail and l Salvador if likening the run
of the mill political graffiti to criminal bigotry. It's what
(24:01):
it takes to keep the FEDS from padlocking city Hall.
The logic goes, maybe it's worth it.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
No, it's not.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I would say it's not.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
No, it's not Maybe they want to do through you
extraordinary rendition to vandals, but maybe it's worth No, it's
not worth it.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's not worth it.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
You're not gonna you're not holding back the tide of
fascism if you allow fascism to happen.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Unlike local governments in Cleveland or Boston, DC is really
stuck between a rock and a hard place. And I mean, like,
I understand why city officials are taking this like appeasement angle.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
But like I guess, as you said, like, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
How you can make the argument that it's like worth it, Like,
what are we getting if every single day it's going
to be a new threat to DC's autonomy, a new
threat to DC, a new EO from the Trump administration?
Speaker 2 (24:49):
What are we.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Really getting by playing ball in this way?
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Right?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
And if you're saying you're saving your energy for the
big fight, it's like, well, what do you think the
big fight is going to be If it's not the
slow erosion of the safety and civil liberties of everyone
who lives here. Exactly what is the big fight?
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, some might say the big fight is DC's tense
budget showdown, which is ongoing.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
It's a little in the weedze, So like, I'm not
going to get too too.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Into it, but I'll try to give the quick and
dirty version of what's going on. The district is overseen
by Congress thanks to provision in the Constitution, So this
means that DC is occasionally treated like a federal agency
rather than like a city or a local government under
various laws. This used to mean that DC's budget was
regularly delayed. Because of this, the city had to wait
for Congress to approve DC's local budget alongside other federal agencies,
(25:44):
which Congress is like almost never does on time. So
pretty much everybody agreed like this was a problem, So
in the early two thousands, they changed it so that
if Congress was behind schedule, DC could just keep spending
at its current budget levels without disruption until Congress is
able to formally prove a new budget. But in March
that all changed because the language was omitted from a
(26:05):
new funding bill that Congress passed in March that would
basically force DC to omit one billion dollars from its budget.
Just to be clear, like, if DC were to omit
one billion dollars from the budget, we basically could not
function as a city. The things that you need to
run a city, schools, garbage collection, all of that would
be cut to the point of like not being viable.
I'm not even sure what that would mean for the
(26:27):
city to make that deep of a cut. And the
worst part is nobody really knows why Congress did this. Like,
in my capacity as co host for a local DC podcast,
City CASDC. I've spoken to a lot of people in
DC government and reporters, and the best I can come
up with is that Congress just really does not understand
(26:47):
what they have done. A reporter that I spoke to
you said that there seemed to be confusion with lawmakers
that we were talking about DC's local tax money and
not federal money. And so this was happening in March,
during the height of like those efficiency I'm putting efficiency
in like heavy scare quotes.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
It was at the height of that, and so the best.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
I could think was that lawmakers thought, like, oh, this
will we will be able to like say that, you know,
making DC cut a billion dollars from the budget will
be a big show of federal tax dollar savings.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
But we're not talking about federal money.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
We're talking about local tax money, not federal money. Doesn't
save anybody any federal money. And so I think that
from what I've heard, it sounds like people like Mike
Johnson just maybe like did not really have a good
understanding of that.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
It is a little bit complicated, but like if you're
a lawmaker, like come on, dude, But.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Again, because you have no representative who is really involved
in this process, Like there's nobody in that room going
to bat for DC. There's nobody in that room whose
constituency is DC who understands what it means to run
DC exactly.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
And what's funny is that, Like for all the talk
about like how how like we're not a defund the
police nation, this bill would kind of defund a police.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
It would have to mean who defund everything?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
I mean like it would mean like sixty seven million
dollars caught from the DC police budget, along with cutting
funding for DC public schools and the Department of Human Services,
which serves the city's forest residents. Right, So, like it
would defund everything, including the police. So it's like funny
to be like, we're not down with defund the police,
but we are down with this bill that kind of
does it.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
We're like, who do you think is gonna fill the potholes?
Who's gonna mow the grass? Like nothing will get done,
the city will fall apart.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Well, So our mayor has really been doing her diplomacy
thing and appealing to exactly that, right, Like Trump has
been really clear about all these goals he has for
the district, like beautifying DC and cracking down on crime
and homelessness. There is no way to do that if
you are slashing the budgets of these departments that are
meant to work on those things by tens of millions
of dollars.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Who's gonna prune the cherry trees? Donald, I mean, ifo's
gonna prove.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Almost as if Trump doesn't really care about doing any
of this stuff. He's just like talking big and doesn't
give a shit about how it actually plays out.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
He doesn't know how anything works.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah, I mean that's really the bottom line for me
is that when you have Trump really loudly talking about
the ways that he is meddling in the way that
DC is run. He's not someone who is good at
efficiently governing. And so like, you know, say what you
know about DC. We had a function we have a
functioning local government, a functioning city. Putting somebody like Trump
(29:19):
in charge of how things get done. What happens to encampments,
what happens to education, what happens to Crome Like, like.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
That's just a terrible, terrible move for the city.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
I mean it's like, you know, at a shitty retail job,
you get a new assistant store manager and they try
to change the way the schedule gets made, just so
they can look like they're doing something, so they can
feel like they're in charge. And it's like, yeah, dog,
that's just not how things work at this store, Like
it won't function if the keyholder doesn't open.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
I wish I could tell Trump that, Like I'm taken
back to my days of working retail at the mall
or where you could just be like, actually, Greg, that's
not how it works here at this Claire's.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
I used to work at Claires.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
It just won't work like that. Like I know, so
you're very important and you're in charge here, but it's
just like it won't work.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
It won't work.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
So yeah, I mean, as of today, there has not
been a vote on DC's budget. Trump actually signaled that
he is on board for a fix that would prevent
this billion dollar cut, and he urged the Senate to
vote for it. He posted, the House should take up
the DC funding fix that the Senate passed and get
it done immediately, all caps. But everybody's on recess and
so in the meantime, like it's not clear what's going
(30:27):
to happen. And the city did announce that they're looking
at making cuts and furlowing staff because it's not clear
what's going to happen. So, you know, so it's not
that the city doesn't have them. It's not like the
city's broke. Like the city has the money, they're just
not allowed to budget it.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Yes, exactly that and for no reason.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Problem.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
It's a fake it's a fake problem. But again, I
don't know that people like Mike Johnson understand that there
are people who live here who you know, just want
to have their trash pickn out this, want to be
able to educate their kids, just want to be able
to like live our lives in the city. And I
think I said this on happened here before. But I
have to feel like it's punitive, right like DC nobody
(31:06):
didn't vote for Trump, Like DC didn't vote for Trump,
like you know, Nicky Hayley won DC's Republican primary, not
even Trump, right, so like we have made it very
clear that we don't like him and we don't want
him here. And I guess I just have to say
the only thing that makes sense as to why Congress
would do this, it's punitive.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
This to be like fuck DC.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
And the progressive, hippie, dippy educated people who live there,
Like it just feels like like a punitive attack on
the district.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
But again just like shooting themselves in the dick because
like if the city falls apart, like you still work here,
you still have to drive on the streets here.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Well, I mean, if Trump gets his way and DC
just becomes like a instead of a city, like a
military compound that is controlled by like his goons.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Right, Like it's sort of like a Trump Vatican City
where he's the king of this little tiny country.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
That is my ultimate biggest fear about what is on
the horizon, And for DC, that is like the ultimate
ultimate like negative fear that I have.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
And I guess bottom line is like this.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Is why DC needs statehoods, Like we are facing such
unique threats from the Trump administration that no other place
in the United States faces. You know, there are a
million reasons for DC to become a state, but this
just I think that the way that Trump is acting
toward our city, toward our our mayor toward our council
with regards to our budget, like it all just makes
(32:29):
so much sense that our residents should not be at
the behest of somebody like Trump to have our.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
City run the way that we want it to be run.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
And yeah, it just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense.
It doesn't mean the city should be able to make
its own budget. There's no reason for it to function
like this.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
There is no reason for it. So from your lips
to God's ears.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Yeah, So, like, I guess what should people look for?
Like what's the next step in this process? Like when's
the next vote on this?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
So when lawmakers are back in set, we should have
some sense of what's going on with DC's budget. The
thing I would end with is like give a shit
about DC, Like, don't be somebody who perpetuates the idea
that the only thing happening in DC is like national politics,
and like where national conversations are happening, because you know,
there are six hundred thousand people who live here and
(33:20):
we want to be able to control our city and
control our tax money. Like I pay taxes just like
anybody else, and it's ridiculous that I get less of
a say.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Than everybody else.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
So if you don't live in DC and you hear
about Congress or the Senate voting on stuff that impacts
DC residents, like you might hear about them voting on
the DC budget fixed bill. You can call your representatives
and advocate on our behalf and kind of be our
voice because we don't really get one. Hopefully this all
gives you a sense of what's at stake for us,
So please give a shit about DC.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Give a shit about DC, and hopefully you guys still
have garbage services.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Molly, thank you for running through all of this with me.
You're such a good co host.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Yeah, this was fun. Yeah, I listened to Bridges' podcasts.
There are no girls on the internet listen to Weird
Little Guys, a Webby Award winning podcast.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yes, so deserved. Are you like keeping your wedding secret?
Is that something I can talk about?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Well?
Speaker 3 (34:15):
I did tell the listeners, just because there's gonna be
some reruns coming out. I'm getting married soon, so I
will be out of town for a little bit. But yeah,
so I got a lot going on. I got my
Weird Little Guys, I got my weird little wedding. Well, congratulations.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I was telling you off Mike that, like, I love
it when women who do work in the like extremism
right wing space have happy, thriving personal lives.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
So it brings me a lot of joy.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Deeply, congratulations, thank you. Yeah, I am experiencing a lot
of joy.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
You deserve it. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
It Could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media.
For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website
Coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts can now
find sources for it Could Happen Here, listed directly in
episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.
It Could Happen Here News
Hosts And Creators
Robert Evans
Garrison Davis
James Stout
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