More than 2,000 members of the National Guard are now patrolling the nation’s capital, That, after President Donald Trump insisting that D.C. had been “overtaken by bloodthirsty criminals,” and “roving mobs.” And those troops are allowed to carry weapons – specifically M17 pistols.
Meanwhile, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says violent crime in her city is at a 30-year low, acknowledging that there was a spike in 2023, but violence has significantly declined since then.
“The Metro police really got those situations under control. They brought people to justice,” said Holli Woodings. “We’ve seen lower crime over the past couple of years.”
Woodings looks at D.C. through a very particular lens. A former member of the Idaho House, Woodings served on the Boise City Council and rose to be Council President, before moving to D.C. in 2023.
“A lot of the president’s actions have not been appreciated by the local community,” she said.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Morning Edition host George Prentice, Woodings talked about the current D.C. environment, plus how she spends her days lobbying for an organization called “Patriotic Millionaires,” a collection of very rich Americans who agree that the U.S. is indeed the richest country in the world, “but tens of millions of workers still don’t make enough money to survive.”
“They believe that [millionaires] should pay more,” said Woodings. They should pay their fair share of taxes.”
Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren
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