In December 2024, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser traveled to Mar-a-Lago hoping to establish a workable relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, who had repeatedly derided Washington as a “crime-ridden” and “filthy” city. Across from her in his office, Trump fixated on a specific example of decay: the worn tiles in an Interstate 395 tunnel under the National Mall. Bowser scribbled the complaint in her notes; within weeks, city workers had cleaned lights and brightened the tunnel.
That small gesture reflected a broader strategy Bowser has quietly employed for the past year: addressing Trump’s concerns—large and small—to stave off the federal takeover of D.C. he pledged on the campaign trail. While Bowser projected optimism in public statements about her “great meeting” with the incoming president, behind the scenes she has worked to mollify Trump enough to preserve the city’s limited self-governance.
Trump’s unprecedented emergency order last August tested that strategy. Declaring the city overrun by criminals, he placed Attorney General Pam Bondi in charge of D.C. police for 30 days and surged National Guard troops and federal law enforcement into the city. Bowser faced a difficult choice: publicly resist and risk a prolonged takeover, or cooperate enough to convince the administration to relinquish control. She chose the latter, angering many constituents and councilmembers who saw her statements praising the surge as capitulation.
Privately, Bowser urged Trump officials to allow the order to expire, presenting data showing drops in violent crime while condemning ICE operations for eroding trust in law enforcement. In return, she pledged continued collaboration on gun violence but resisted deeper entanglement with immigration enforcement. Six days before the deadline, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Congress would not extend the emergency—an outcome Bowser celebrated as confirmation that her strategy had worked.
But the political fallout has lingered. Many progressive residents accuse the mayor of legitimizing federal overreach, while federal agents and National Guard troops have remained visible in some neighborhoods. Still, Bowser maintains her approach protected the principle at the core of her career: D.C.’s right to govern itself.
“You may not agree with everything I say or do,” she told residents this fall, “but I promise you, I’m doing it for all of us.”
