I go away for a few days because of family illness and when I get back DC is under federal control.
Well, this is what I'm always telling Democrats: if you don't like it, you should have done literally anything, at literally any point, to solve the problem your way before the populists solve it theirs.
Populist moves toward higher policing aren't something I think is overall good. But what was anyone supposed to do? Incremental solutions or trying to solve the problem piecemeal hasn't worked. Infinite services haven't worked. Stopping policing hasn't worked. The Dems could have implemented stronger police protections and stopped some of the crime in DC to the point where people wouldn't have stood for something like this. "Hey, they were making real progress!" Instead all they've got are fake stats someone's going to go to jail over.
It's the inevitable result of bad local leadership, and it was preventable if the Democrats, who had full control over DC's local government, had proposed any reality-based solutions that stood up to empirical testing. Instead, they went with idealistic claptrap that was as unfounded scientifically as flat earth theory. It was about wish fulfillment, where all that the dregs of society needed to be good was to be given enough that their needs were all met. Progressives have been singing that song since the 1910s and it's got a nice first verse but it never comes together. There's always anecdotal evidence of people who can be uplifted, but none of these efforts can scale beyond the occasional diamond in the rough.
I don't think that federal troops patrolling DC streets is ideal. But you only get this kind of political movement toward accepting military and strong police presence when everything else has failed. It doesn't just happen without many years of neglect that lead to people feeling disgust and dehumanization. If you wanted people to see fentanyl addicts as humans worthy of their sympathy, you shouldn't have left so many out on the streets walking around and ruining the sympathetic vibe. If you let people who act inhuman show themselves in public all the time, eventually people will just decide they aren't human after all, and don't deserve rights.
When the only alternatives you can choose are "bike cuck" and "brownshirt," more and more people will start goose-stepping.
