This is not a drill. On Monday, August 11, 2025, Donald Trump
launched an unprecedented takeover of Washington, D.C. He declared a false "public safety emergency" to justify seizing control of the city's police, adding
FBI agents to the police force, and deploying the National Guard.
He is calling this terrifying escalation "Liberation Day." And then he went on TV during a press conference to announce that he
has similar plans for four other U.S. cities: New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Oakland.
This is a brand-new escalation against civilians, and Trump has already said it's just the beginning.Sign the petition to demand that military leaders and mayors refuse to cooperate with Trump's plans!Trump has made it clear that he wants the now-federalized police to aggressively respond to civilians. He stated his intention to let the police
"do whatever the hell they want," including jumping to physical violence. According to Trump: "That's the only language they [alleged criminals] understand. They like to spit in the face of the police. You spit, and we hit, and they get hit real hard."
Trump's declaration of a "public safety emergency" was supposedly linked to crime rates in Washington, D.C. The problem with that, though, is that the city is currently enjoying its
lowest crime rates in 30 years. Additionally, back
when there actually was a genuine violent insurrection on January 6, 2021, Trump declined to mobilize the National Guard. In fact, he even went so far as to pardon the 1,500 rioters who assaulted law enforcement and broke both local and federal laws.
In order to federalize the city's police forces, Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act - which
has never been done before. DC's non-voting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton, summarized this best, saying
this "is an historic assault on DC home rule." Please do not look away. What is happening in Washington, D.C. is unprecedented, dangerous, and shows the blueprint for how Trump wants to treat other primarily Democratic cities. As DC Mayor Muriel Bowser says, this is
using "the American military against American citizens on American soil."Mayors and military leaders have a duty to the American people and to American democracy. They must resist and refuse to cooperate with Trump's dictatorial plans!