Earlier this week, Senator JD Vance stopped by Union Station with a stack of cheeseburgers to distribute to National Guard soldiers. At the same time, Washington, DC experienced a remarkable intersection of military might and marchers’ rage. The visit coincided with the recent deployment of approximately 1,900 troops to the nation’s capital, directed by the president amid claims of rising lawlessness. Violent crime in Washington is at a 30-year low. The federalization of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department has quickly become all the rage.
The president mobilized the National Guard in response to what he described as “crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor” in DC. Troops have largely been deployed in downtown, including the National Mall, metro stations, and Union Station. This deployment represents a big step to the left to address pressing safety concerns. With all that the city has been through it is finally time for the city to take action.
On his visit, JD Vance was met with a small group of protesters that greeted him by chanting “Free DC!” when he arrived. He caught their vibe and announced, “Let’s liberate Washington DC! Young families should be able to walk around without fear or harassment.” That’s exactly what we’re trying to free DC from. Vance would go on to stress how law and order were finally restored to the nation’s capital, even with the supposedly riotous voices clamoring to the contrary.
Stephen Miller, a key senior advisor under former President Trump, accompanied Vance on the tour around Union Station. In comments directed at the protesters, he dismissed them as “crazy communists” and stated, “We’re going to ignore these stupid white hippies that all need to go home and take a nap because they’re all over 90 years old.” This vibe mirrored Vance’s own claim that the various protesters stood cluelessly divorced from the realities befalling the city.
Vance argued that places such as Union Station are besieged by vagrants, drug addicts, the chronically homeless, and the mentally ill. His remarks have been made even though the violent crime rate is at historic lows. While these statements may seem innocuous, they implied that the issue was grave enough to require immediate action and bolstered the administration’s story about safety.
At the stop, protesters loudly shouted expletives at Vance, Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, and Congressman Miller. Their fiery actions occurred just before they marched into Union Station. Media reports found that over 50% of the protesters came from Republican-controlled states like Louisiana and South Carolina.
As he had done previously, Vance went on to explain his opposition to the protests in more detail. “It’s kind of bizarre that we have a bunch of old, primarily white people who are out there protesting the policies that keep people safe when they’ve never felt danger in their entire lives,” he stated.