In a very funny moment during the awesome press conference on Monday, August 11, in which he announced that the federal government would be using the Metropolitan DC police force to tackle the massive problem of crime in the nation’s capital, a move that was sparked by the assault of a DOGE staffer by a gang in DC.
For reference, President Trump described the goal of the police force takeover and crime crackdown in a post on Truth Social in which he said, “Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today! Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN! The days of ruthlessly killing, or hurting, innocent people, are OVER! I quickly fixed the Border (ZERO ILLEGALS in last 3 months!), D.C. is next!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT”
He also announced the move in very similar terms during the press conference from the White House on Monday, telling the gathered press corps, “I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor. I’m placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control.”
It was as part of all of that discussion surrounding the move that Trump took a humor break to joke with one of the reporters in the room, Real America’s Voice Chief White House Correspondent Brian Glenn. That came when Trump, making an offhand remark to Press Secretary Leavitt, said, “Is this the largest crowd that you’ve ever seen? That you’ve ever seen?”
Responding to him, the press secretary noted that this is why a larger room is needed for special events like this, saying, “This is definitely the most packed briefing, and I think all of you would agree. I think it’s why we need to build a ballroom.” A shout rose from an unidentified person in the crowd, who said, “Yes!” and Judge Jeanine Pirro said, “OH! She’s so good!”
That’s when the reporter, Brian Glenn, chimed in, saying, “I’ve got a better idea.” President Trump, letting it happen, said, “All right, Brian, go ahead.” Glenn then said, “You’re building the big, beautiful ballroom. Could we build a big, beautiful briefing room of new technology? More seats!”
Trump, firing back and joking about his hostility to the media, said, “I don’t want you to be comfortable.” He continued, saying, “So, no, I don’t want to make life comfortable.” As he did so, the room exploded with laughter, with even the normally stuck-up White House reporters laughing at the comment at their expense.
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Watch it here:
During the press conference, President Trump also justified the move, comparing crime in DC to the crime rate in various crime-ridden cities abroad. After showing a chart that presented the massive crime problem in stark terms, he said, “These are different cities throughout the world. The red is a place called Washington, DC. Look at these. Baghdad is — we doubled up on Baghdad. Panama City; Brasilia, San Jose, Costa Rica; Bogota, Colombia — heavy drugs — Mexico City. I mentioned Lima, Peru — all double and triple what they are.”
Continuing, he noted that no one wants to live in violent cities like that and DC is particularly bad, saying, “So do you want to live in places like that? I don’t think so. I don’t think so; and I think the people in this room, if you wrote correctly, you’d see. Look at the kind of numbers we have. DC, 41 per 100,000 — number one that we can find anywhere in the world.”
He further noted, calling out the media for being against his crackdown while not wanting to live around crime, “Other cities are pretty bad, but they’re not as bad as that. That where you want to live, the reporters of the world? Juvenile offenders and crimes against persons, as they say. It’s getting worse. Not getting better, it’s getting worse.”
Watch him here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video