Democrat D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser sounded off Monday on NPR about her municipal government’s relationship with the Trump administration. Morning Edition anchor Michel Martin allowed her to pass along the buck for all and any of her own failures to the federal government, headed by the hated President Trump, and especially federal employment cuts, directed by the even-more-hated Elon Musk, and challenged her on nothing.
Martin opened up with Trump’s recent demand that Bowser’s government clean up the capital’s homeless encampments, or he would direct it himself, asking Bowser “what is the disconnect here?”
Bowser responded “I think the President doesn't think there should be any homeless person in the nation's capital… if I'm being… perfectly blunt.”
Martin didn’t ask what exactly the problem was there, if Bowser actually considered homelessness something that the president should want to see all over the nation’s capital, but allowed the mayor to continue:
I think that there is an opportunity… to work with the federal government, because a lot… of encampments… appear on federal park space… [O]ne thing that I want your listeners to understand is we have shelter space for every person that you see outside.
Bowser came right out and admitted that her government had the resources to get the homeless off the street, but had failed to do so, because "people have decided that they want to stay outside and not go into shelter." She appeared to welcome the possibility of federal cooperation to that end, while simultaneously outright complaining about Trump somehow finding the homeless unsightly.
Rather than forcing any sort of clarification, Martin moved on to the subject of street crime, which she described as another “pain point” for the administration. There wasn't a question. Martin just said, "let's talk about the street crime issue, tell us the latest on that."
After vaguely conceding that “cities deal with crime… It’s just part of urban life,” but taking no actual responsibility for this “part of urban life” in the city she happened to govern, Bowser went on:
[W]hat isn't normal is having massive firings and layoffs… which will create a situation that is antithetical to… how to make Washington D.C. the most beautiful city in the world? You don't make a city beautiful by gutting its workforce… The actions of the federal government are working against our ability to invest in our city.
Bowser managed, yet again, to dump what had gone on on her watch onto the federal government, and to do so completely unchallenged.
On the administration’s directive to restore the original name of Liberty Plaza, which Bowser’s government had renamed Black Lives Plaza in 2020, Bowser vaguely conceded that it was “going to evolve,” but insisted that “Anyone who was paying attention at that time would recognize that our mural allowed us to get control of our city at a very dark time in American history.”
For one who actually remembered that not-all-that-distant “very dark time” in American history, it would have been laughable that official endorsement of a violent movement built on racial hatred, resentment, and paranoia would be considered the source of a healing moment.
And this taxpayer-funded “news” source wonders why many Americans want to see their funds cut off.
To view full transcript, click "expand"
MICHEL MARTIN: In recent days, President Trump demanded that you clean up homeless encampments, or federal officials "will be forced to do it." What is the disconnect here?
WASHINGTON D.C. MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER: I think the President doesn't think there should be any homeless person in the nation's capital- I mean, if I'm being- like- perfectly blunt.
I think that there is an opportunity, and there has been in all the years I've been mayor, to work with the federal government, because a lot, unfortunately, of encampments- they appear on federal park space.
I think one thing that I want your listeners to understand is we have shelter space for every person that you see outside. And dealing with an encampment population is among the most difficult human services work that you will do because people have decided that they want to stay outside and not go into shelter.
But we have been successful. I think in the last two years, we've seen the number of tents, and the number of encampments cut almost in half.
MARTIN: His view of the crime environment in D.C. also seems to be a pain point, like, in recent days on his social media account, Trump also said, quote: ‘Washington D.C. must become clean and safe.’ So, let's talk about the street crime issue, tell us the latest on that.
BOWSER: Cities deal with crime, and cities deal with homelessness. It's just. it's -- urban life.
But what isn't normal is having massive firings and layoffs that’s [sic.] tanking the economy of the nation's capital, which will create a situation that is antithetical to what the president and I agree on, how to make Washington D.C. the most beautiful city in the world?
You don't make a city beautiful by gutting its workforce. You don't make a city beautiful by leaving buildings vacant. The actions of the federal government are working against our ability to invest in our city.
MARTIN: Well let’s talk about that. What is the impact so far of these mass firings?
BOWSER: Well, we estimate that 40,000 D.C. residents will be put out of work through no fault of their own in this process. And we also recognize that there are a lot of questions about the legality of these actions.
What it will mean for us immediately is a decrease in what we estimate in the revenue that we're going to bring in. When people are out of work, guess what? They don't pay taxes; they don't shop at stores; they don't go to restaurants; they don't book hotels.
MARTIN: There is this bill to force you to rename the two-block stretch of 16th Street Northwest from Black Lives Plaza to Liberty Plaza.
BOWSER: That came from Congress. Anyone who was paying attention at that time would recognize that our mural allowed us to get control of our city at a very dark time in American history.
MARTIN: But you are going to paint it over.
BOWSER: We're going to- it’s going to evolve, absolutely.
MARTIN: Before I let you go, Mayor, I want everyone to understand that the district has a governance system that is unlike that of other areas. Given that, how do you move forward here in expressing the wishes of your constituents and trying to navigate this period when there are some stark ideological differences about what is best for the city, going forward?
BOWSER: We are unique in the American system. We are a city, a county, a state, all at once. We pay federal taxes, but we're not represented. And so there is no jurisdiction that has the type of relationship that we have with the federal government, both in geographic proximity, but also in a legal relationship.
So that's why the D.C. mayor and the American President always work closely together. And so what I hope you recognize is that, unlike a lot of Democrats in my position, we do go directly to the President. We do work with the President, and we will defend our city.
MARTIN: That is the Mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser. Madam Mayor, thank you so much for talking to us once again.
BOWSER: Thank you.
