The president then blasted Chicago and Los Angeles, cities within blue states led by Democratic mayors, Brandon Johnson and Karen Bass, respectively. The states are led by two of his biggest Democratic foes: Govs. JB Pritzker (D-IL) and Gavin Newsom (D-CA).

“If we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster. We have a mayor there who’s totally incompetent,” Trump said of Johnson. “And we have an incompetent governor there. Pritzker is an incompetent. His family threw him out of the business, and he ran for governor.”

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“Hopefully, LA is watching,” Trump added as he spoke about the devastating fires that blazed through the city earlier this year. “I watched people on television; they want to go, they want to leave. They’ve lost their spirit. They’ve lost their heart because the mayor is incompetent. And Gavin Newscum [Trump’s nickname for Newsom] is incompetent. Got a good line of bull****, but that’s about it.”

On Thursday, the president was again direct about his desire to move beyond Washington when asked about homicides in Memphis, Tennessee, another blue-controlled city. “We’re doing a sort of a test right now in D.C.,” he told the Todd Starnes Show. “It’s working unbelievably.”

He later visited the U.S. Park Police Anacostia Operations Facility on Thursday evening, highlighting the National Guard’s work to combat crime and homelessness.

“The crime numbers are way down,” Trump told the crowd. “I feel very safe now, and I’m hearing people are very safe, but I know within two weeks … it’s going to be at a level that’s even far superior.”

He again threatened to take his efforts to crack down on crime to other cities. “We’re not playing games. We’re going to make it safe, and we’re going to then go on to other places,” he said. “But we’re going to stay here for a while.”

Trump’s attacks on these blue cities and their leaders are part of a yearslong pattern of slamming urban enclaves as crime-infested places in need of law and order. His recent takeover of Washington escalates his previous feuds with Democrats, who claimed that crime rates have fallen in many of these cities.

“President Trump sees that American cities are failing, and part of why they’re failing is a leadership deficit and a lack of will to do what needs to be done to fix these once great American cities,” said Brian Seitchick, a national Republican strategist. “So Trump is taking it upon himself to make cities safer again and to make them a place that is hospitable to all Americans.”

In his first visit to Chicago as president in 2019, Trump said the Windy City was “embarrassing to us as a nation” due to its crime problems. “All over the world, they’re talking about Chicago. Afghanistan is a safe place by comparison,” he said.

During a visit to Detroit, Michigan, last year while campaigning for the presidency, Trump said the nation would end up like the city if former Vice President Kamala Harris were president.

“The whole country will be like — you want to know the truth? It’ll be like Detroit,” Trump said. “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president.”

However, in his second term, Trump no longer relies on harsh rhetoric. He’s now using the federal government’s full might to enforce his will.

“President Trump wants every innocent, law-abiding American across the country to be safe – no matter what city they live in or who is in charge,” said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

“President Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to make DC Safe and Beautiful by using his lawful authority to stop dangerous criminals and enforce the law,” Rogers continued. “The left and the media can coddle criminals, but our nation’s capital will not be a safe haven for violent criminals under President Trump’s leadership.”

Members of the Trump administration have applauded the National Guard for helping clean up the city’s homeless crisis and violent crime problems, as well as pointed to the effect it could have on the nation after Trump declared a national emergency to take over the police department for 30 days.

“We do not have to allow our cities to be taken over by violence,” Vice President JD Vance said during a surprise visit to Union Station on Wednesday. “We can bring law and order to our communities, you’ve just got to have the political willpower to do it.”

Rep. James Comer (R-KY), a key Trump ally on Capitol Hill, publicly supported the takeover of other cities’ police forces.

“We’re gonna support doing this in other cities if it works out in Washington, D.C.,” he told Newsmax. Our military has been in many countries around the world for the past two decades, walking the streets trying to reduce crime in other countries. We need to focus on the big cities in America now, and that’s what the president is doing.”

Democrats are in a bind on how to counter Trump’s attacks on blue-leaning cities, said one Republican strategist.

“This puts Democrats in a corner, and so in that way, I think Trump loves it,” said Matt Dole, a GOP strategist based in Ohio. “I think Trump loves it when he can sort of corner the Democrats. And really, whatever they decide is a problem for them. And I think he has them in the corner. Crime nationally is worse in big cities. Big cities nationally are unanimously controlled by Democrats.”

FBI crime statistics from 2024 show that 13 of the 20 cities with the highest murder rates were in Republican-run states. But 19 of the 20 cities with the highest murder rates, with at least 100,000 residents, were led by Democratic mayors. Trump’s feud with these Democratic leaders may have some basis for his threats to move beyond Washington, but the crime statistics also lend credence to the argument that Democrats are not tough on crime.

“I believe he is targeting cities that are failing, and that these cities fail the eye test on a regular basis,” said Seitchick. “If they were led by Republicans, with Republican mayors, and they were failing, Trump would still be trying to fix them. The fact that Democrats leave them at the city level and the gubernatorial level is a reality that everybody understands.”

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Dole pointed out that Washington is unique in that it lacks statehood and is, therefore, more easily subject to federal jurisdiction.

“I don’t think Trump goes, ‘Look, this worked in D.C., so now I’m going to nationalize the LAPD or the Chicago Police or something else, ‘” said Dole. “I think Trump explores limits, but I believe he knows that that’s probably a step too far and would certainly be struck down in court relatively quickly.”