Trump wants to "take over" D.C.

A second Donald Trump presidency would bring an unpredictable era of federal micromanaging over local Washington.

Why it matters: Trump's vow to "take over our horribly run" capital is one of his most commonly repeated phrases, an Axios analysis found .

• Ranting about potholes and crime, he told a crowd in Wisconsin last week: "It's going to be run properly." On social media last year he said , "An important part of my platform for President is to bring back, restore, and rebuild Washington, D.C. into the 'crown jewel of our Nation.'"

The big picture: Presidents usually leave hometown D.C. alone. But Trump wants to make an example out of a Democratic city and punish the "swamp."

• Trump's allies are planning to install up to 54,000 loyalists across the federal government — a move that would upend the lives of the career civil servants who call Washington home.
• "The left is right to fear our plan to gut the federal bureaucracy," wrote one scholar at the Heritage Foundation, which is behind the MAGA-aligned Project 2025 plan.

Zoom in: The District's unique status as a federal enclave leaves the city itself particularly vulnerable.

As president, Trump could:

1. Send in the National Guard to stamp out crime.
2. Push Congress to constrain the purse strings of the city council.
3. Shape the look of downtown.

The president alone has the power to deploy the D.C. Army National Guard , not the mayor (unlike governors of states).

• Denouncing crime in Democratic cities, Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2023 that he would "send in federal assets including the National Guard until law and order is restored."
• Another move would be appointing a tough-on-crime federal prosecutor for D.C.

Trump could lean on conservatives in Congress to squeeze D.C.'s spending and change city laws.

• In the 1990s, Congress appointed a control board to run the city's bankrupt finances. This time, local politicos worry less per se about a total takeover but rather about Republicans gutting the priorities of a liberal city.
• Already, House Republicans want to block D.C.'s noncitizen voting law, prohibit the city from following California emissions rules, and scrap traffic speed cameras .

Then there's the cityscape: You could expect micromanaging of federal land like the FBI building. Trump insists it should stay on Pennsylvania Avenue, but locals prefer it be demolished and redeveloped into mixed real estate.

• "DON'T MOVE THE FBI!" Trump posted on social media in late December, after the Biden administration announced it would relocate the agency to the Maryland suburbs.
• Trump once wanted to deem "classical architecture" the "default" for federal buildings in the nation's capital. (Presumably, a Trump FBI HQ would look less brutalist and more like an imagined constabulary in ancient Rome.)

Reality check: Even though Trump says he wants to "federalize" D.C., taking away the city's self-governance would require the feds to learn how to run a $21 billion city. He will need both chambers of Congress on board for his most sweeping plans.

The bottom line: Trump's anger with all-things D.C. has been brewing.

• Last August, special counsel Jack Smith's case against Trump spurred him to post on social media that there is "NO WAY I CAN GET A FAIR TRIAL" in D.C. One of his reasons: "BECAUSE … I AM CALLING FOR A FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF THIS FILTHY AND CRIME RIDDEN EMBARRASSMENT TO OUR NATION."

💭 Town Talker is a weekly column about money and power in Washington. Tell me about the talk of the town: cuneyt@axios.com.

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