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Dateline DC
I just got back from a short trip to our nation’s capital. This was a sight-seeing, pleasure trip with my son who will be off to college (Gig ’em, Aggies!) in a week. Anywho, I thought I’d share a few observations from my perspective as a red-stater from a small city.
Upon our arrival, we were greeted with the street message shown here. A passenger on the subway from the airport to our hotel was wearing a t-shirt with a nude Melania Trump who was using her hand to cover only her southern regions. The t-shirt contained a profane message about Trump.
The vibe in DC is definitely of a “We hate Trump” variety. Remember, 93 percent of the votes in the District went to Clinton. DC is full of imposing, sprawling buildings marked with words such as “Treasury,” “Commerce,” and “Justice.” The idea that these buildings are 93 percent full of your opponent’s voters, some of whom are looney-crazy “resistance fighters,” is a sobering thought.
To me, the White House took on the aura of a besieged fortress rather than the residence of a democratically elected official. It was assumed by everyone we met that we hated Trump too. It felt like being in middle school where no dissent from the in-crowd’s opinion would be tolerated if you wanted in with the cool kids. I certainly smiled and nodded and said nothing to our Lyft drivers, Segway tour guide, multiple wait staff and assorted others rather than offer an alternate take, no matter how small, on the POTUS.^ Of course, where I’m from, a host (or guest) never brings up matters of religion or politics, but many people in DC apparently were not brought up this way.
^Here, I insert that necessary disclaimer that our President’s crassness grates on me, but it’s the economy and national security strides that will keep me a Trump voter in the next election. Living as close to Arkansas as I do, I can say that nearly everyone I know despises HRC, often based on personal interactions. A nasty woman indeed.
By happenstance, my son and I were in DC at the same time as the Unite the Right rally and preparations. We had no idea what was going on at first. Our Metro line was shut down at 10:30 Saturday night and the police swarmed the station and declared it the last stop and shoo-ed us and the other riders to street level at the Federal Triangle to take a shuttle bus to Foggy Bottom, where we were staying.
As we were boarding the shuttle, I spied three black-clad, masked adults — two male and one female — walking across the street carrying shovel handles. A black passenger on our bus saw them too and exclaimed: “Who the [expletive] is that?!” It was clear that he did not find them to be brothers-in-arms. It is quite unnerving to see masked adults walking the street with weapons capable of bludgeoning you.
The Trump Hotel is across from the Federal Triangle Metro stop. The hotel was already surrounded by metal fence panels designed for crowd control on Saturday night and all entry/exit from the hotel was funneled into one door. Police were positioned everywhere on Saturday night and their presence was intensified on Sunday.
There were four eight-passenger vans, filled with blue-uniformed police, parked at the Foggy Bottom Metro station on Sunday morning. That’s 24 policemen who were just sitting in idling vans with the AC on, blocks and hours away from the planned demonstration, waiting for the call. The police presence on Pennsylvania Avenue near Freedom Plaza and the Trump Hotel was five times that amount. Bicycle cops, motorcycle cops, and 12 eight-passenger vans filled with police were just standing by. This is in addition to those police already on the streets. I shudder to think of the overtime and the cost of the mobilization of so much manpower.
We saw several more black-clad, often mask-wearing, counter-protestors and many more “regular” people headed to the counter-protest location with homemade signs. We never saw any actual UTR demonstrators. I understand that the permit requested by UTR was for 400 demonstrators and the total in attendance was closer to two dozen. It certainly appeared to me that this was a huge to-do about nothing.
Our Lyft driver on Sunday was of some non-white ethnicity. We discussed the rally because several streets had been shut down, forcing him to take alternate routes. I asked him if it wouldn’t be better to let the police put a perimeter around Lafayette Park and let the UTR people shout in the air and shake their fists at no one and have the city offer a collective “yawn” rather than to play up the situation and infuse the UTR group with attention and power that it wouldn’t otherwise have.
The driver seemed to have never considered this take before, but given the NPR station playing in his car, I’m guessing histrionics were more on the menu than dismissal of UTR by indifference. My son and I then went to the airport that evening to fly out and CNN was on the airport TVs, covering the “demonstration” wall-to-wall. Just like today’s Babylon Bee’s hot-take suggested, I have never seen a news organization practically beg for and salivate over the possibility of violent clashes and portray the demonstration on TV as far more than really existed.
On a different note (and a nice palate cleanser), the vacation season was in full swing in DC and the tourist throng was made up of American families from all over and lots of foreign visitors — French, Chinese, Indian, etc. Everyone was pleasant and having a nice time. My son and I sat next to a French family during a film on D-Day at the IMAX in the Air and Space Museum. I’m a history geek and no matter how much I re-visit D-Day, it always seems unbelievable what the Allies pulled off that day and the days that followed.
At the conclusion of the film, the French dad told me how his father spoke so warmly of the Americans who liberated France. I told the fellow that my grandfather had served in WW2 and I hoped he knew that there was still another America out there and we weren’t the sum of our president, our politics, or what the news media portrayed. He chuckled and said he did know that, but it was easy to forget with the news coverage he gets at home. He said that the D-Day film was a nice reminder of that other America. And it is.
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The fact that these buildings exist at all is something that really made an impression on me the last time I was in DC. There are some beautiful monuments in Washington, and those I have no problem with; but when you see a massive stone building, multiple stories tall and occupying an entire city block, entirely dedicated to just one of many federal bureaucracies … you start to realize how far we have drifted from what the Founders had in mind. Of course the people who work in those buildings vote Democrat: they are parasites on the economy, generating nothing of value and depending on our taxes for their livelihood.
But the museums are wonderful, and worth the trip. And I do love seeing how many people from all over the world visit DC. The media sometimes make it sound like the rest of the world hates us, but they keep coming here on vacation, don’t they?
Exactly! I noted that the official license plate motto on DC plates is “Taxation without Representation”. Our Segway tour guide went on a rant about DC’s failed statehood attempts and pointed out the license plate motto. I was thinking that the entire DC economy lives on MY tax dollars and I certainly don’t want them getting Congressional representation to vote themselves more! But, I didn’t say a word, I just nodded and smiled. :)
If you had posted something before you went, I would have suggested a visit to the Hillsdale College Kirby Center, a source of “resistance” and real education from the conservative part of the spectrum. They have lectures and give courses for government staffers, and it would have been a nice bit of refreshment after all the left-wing hate.
Wow! I was not aware of this. I did check the Heritage Foundation for any events before we left, but nothing was going on. I’ll keep this in mind for my next trip. Thanks.
We were in NYC just after the 2016 election. There were a lot of quiet Trump supporters working in shops.
Indeed. Five of the eight wealthiest counties in the country are D.C. suburbs, gross.
Some things never change and DC graffiti is one of them. Though today’s version is s bit more succinct. On my first trip to DC lo these many years ago I was greeted with …
“Powell sucks! Overturn Bakke”
Agreed, and not just in DC.
While the white supremo idiots had their small hike, it was the other side that was shocking – what I saw on TV reminded me of Gaza – the head wraps and face coverings, weapons – this militant tone is more than disturbing, and supposedly Obama declared Antifa a hate group, no?
You gave a great description of your time there – lots of good (and time spent with your child combined with learning history) mixed in with the Orwellian spiral of the human race into a hell pit – really enjoyed it!
The first time I saw this, I thought “how apropos!!” New Hampshire has “Live Free or Die” and DC has “Taxation Without Representation.” It’s a perfect descriptor for what the Deep State there is doing to us (and kind of hilarious that they omitted the “No”).
Americans are a minority in the National Parks this time of year, if our trip(s) to Yellowstone is any indication.
The places where the people who work in those buildings, particularly when you start talking about policy people rather than custodians and security, don’t mostly live in DC. They live in Virginia or Maryland and commute in. The closest 4 Congressional Districts in Virginia went 2 Democrat, 2 Republican. Maryland is absurdly gerrymandered, but it’s also less extreme. There are resistance type folks in those buildings, but also tea partiers. Both tend to have multiple social media accounts because neither generally feels comfortable venting in places where HR might have an issue with it. Obviously the EPA leans more left, the FBI/ CIA more right, etc., and obviously DC, northern Virginia, and Maryland Republicans tend to reflect the views of educated white conservative professionals nationwide rather than being Trump primary voters, but the mainstream conservative Congressmen and Executive Branch officials don’t find themselves as besieged as they used to (Bush was pretty effective at impacting that). And they were mostly never all that besieged; it’s not like they were conservative K-12 teachers or some other genuinely oppressed group.
I don’t know. They did set aside a 10×10 mile area designed to be a federal district and not part of any state, just for the administration of the federal government. 100 square miles – set aside in 1789.
For this reason, I am against anyone living in that district calling that place their home of record. They should have to declare a state of residence, vote in that state, and pay that state’s taxes. DC should get no representation in the Electoral college, or even congress.
Great post. Thank you.
The electoral districts tell a different story :
Excellent OP.
I’m not sure I’m reading the message behind your maps correctly. By “Electoral districts”, do you mean “states”? If so, Virginia went Clinton 49.7% to 44.4%. That’s to the left of the country, but it’s not as much as 2% away, for either candidate. Maryland was more blue in the Presidential election; 12% more than the country. That’s pretty big, but not on the scale of DC, where Clinton got over 90% of the vote. Their limited degree of radicalism is also visible in their massive support for their Republican governor, who consistently tops polls for popularity and who remains conservative enough to win plaudits from NR and such.
Also, interesting : the growing blue mob out west added electors while those in most blue states east are shrinking. Go Tex-Fla ! Beat West !
Back to the OP : DC was once a nice area to visit, but not so much any more. It attracts unwanted visitors not only the in streets, but also from the sky :
I have always thought that DC should be annexed by a neighboring state rather than become its own state. Maryland or Virginia would love to absorb the fabulous citizens of DC, and their terrific school system and transportation system. Its win – win for everyone, right? Celebrate with a new state holiday, Marion Barry Day!
I really cannot imagine the culture shock of being normal and visiting San Francisco, where I work. One morning a van with a full PA system was circling a block repeatedly with a full PA system blaring the rap song, F**k Donald Trump. The occupants appeared to be wonderful citizens, though recently released from jail. I heard on the news the rapper responsible for the song was arrested for something a day or two ago.
Goodness! It sounds like I took the grandchildren to DC at the right time!! We went in early June, and we saw a remarkable number of young people==high school or middle school aged—touring in large groups. Many of them were wearing MAGA hats or shirts. We were not plagued by any big mobs, except for the one on our last day.
The Capitals were bringing home the Stanley Cup, and there was a very lively, well-attended rally on the National Mall. It was crazy…but nice. I happen to live in Las Vegas now, and I don’t really care about sports. But, it would have been fun to be wearing a Golden Knights shirt just then!
I lived near DC for about a decade. We went up there frequently for the amazing restaurants, and various other activities. Fortunately, no one was whining about the president then.(because he was a DEM)…And definitely NO ONE was wearing a mask and carrying a shovel on the Metro!!
Always thought the first step in putting an end to various federal agencies would be to re-locate them.
Moving EPA to SF would be a good start. Mutually assured destruction—not as a deterrence, but de facto dysfunction feeding upon each other.
Why SF, and not Anchorage? Actually it has begun. USDA is looking to move its Economic Research Service (ERS) and another group out of DC. I understand that Fargo is making a play for the jobs, as are a lot of other communities, in the name of economic development.
If locals are willing to pay for the new tower, the way new stadiums are built, and a needle-free park grows in the place of the re-located one, then we have a deal.
Next would be the Dept. of Commerce to Arkansas—or should that be in Chappaqua ?
Back to the OP, it deserves attention.
Now there’s common sense solution. Simple, direct, fair. But wait… we were talking about Washington DC, a place that totally lacks common sense.