President Donald Trump dined at a seafood restaurant near the White House on Tuesday night, in an attempt to draw attention back to his deployment of the National Guard and federalisation of the Washington DC police force in a bid to tackle crime.
On the same day, Trump was forced to again deny signing an alleged birthday card for Jeffrey Epstein after major documents were released by Congress, appearing to show the President’s signature on a letter with a drawn outline of a nude female.
His motorcade travelled a short distance to Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab on 15th Street in the northwestern part of the city, following weeks of President Trump extolling the virtues of mobilising federal authorities and the military, which he claims have transformed Washington into “a safe zone.”
As the President emerged from his limousine, cheers could be heard, although there were also scattered boos and chants from protesters opposing US policy supporting Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza, where 64,000 people are now reported to have died. Some jeered at the world leader: “Trump is the Hitler of our time.”
“We’re standing right in the middle of DC, which as you know about, over the last year, was a very unsafe place – over the last 20 years – and now it’s got virtually no crime,” Trump told reporters.
He added that he wouldn’t have stood out “in the middle of the street” as recently as a few months ago. However, this suggestion was somewhat redundant since the president is always surrounded by heavy security wherever he goes.
Upon entering the restaurant, footage shared on social media captured Trump greeting several diners with handshakes.
However, he also fixed his gaze for a considerable time on a small contingent of demonstrators brandishing miniature Gaza flags whilst chanting: “Free DC! Free Palestine! Trump is the Hitler of our time!”
The president approached them more closely and was observed making brief gestures, though he appeared not to utter any words.
Several establishments have witnessed declining bookings since Trump initially unveiled the federal crackdown on August 7, whilst regular street demonstrations condemning his measures have become commonplace.
Enhanced military and police deployment has also periodically triggered confrontations between locals and officials in typically tranquil neighbourhoods.
Nevertheless, Trump has repeatedly maintained that acquaintances have informed him local eateries are thriving and that residents have observed a reduction in criminal activity.
He claims to have also been told that the public welcomes teams dismantling homeless camps as part of the enforcement drive.
Joining the president for the meal were Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, alongside Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff.
In his remarks prior to entering for dinner, Trump declared: “The restaurants are booming.
“People are going out to dinner where they didn’t go out for years,” he stated. The outing was particularly noteworthy given that Trump seldom ventures out for meals beyond the White House whilst in Washington.
Such dining excursions have become increasingly rare since he sold the hotel that bore his name just a few blocks away, which served as a crucial gathering spot for administration officials and supporters throughout his initial presidency.
The White House announced on Tuesday that nearly 2,200 arrests had taken place since Trump first declared the Washington crackdown on August 7.
Beyond Washington, Trump dispatched the National Guard to Los Angeles in June and has issued warnings about deploying troops to other predominantly Democratic cities, including Baltimore, New Orleans and Chicago – where state and local officials are already preparing for operations designed to dramatically escalate immigration enforcement.
He revealed on Tuesday evening that, “We’re going to be announcing another city that we’re going to very shortly,” before suggesting it could happen as early as Wednesday.
He went on to say that the mayor of that location, along with the state governor “would love us to be there.”
This comes after Trump shared a satirical image over the weekend inspired by “Apocalypse Now” showing a fireball as helicopters soar above Chicago’s lakefront and skyline – the country’s third-largest metropolis.
“‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning,'” Trump posted on his social media platform.
“Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
In his social media post, Trump cryptically referred to the situation as “Chipocalypse Now,” a nod to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 dystopian film set during the Vietnam War, in which a character famously declares: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
This came on the heels of last week’s events when Trump signed an executive order proposing to rebrand the Defense Department as the Department of War – a move that comes ironically after months of lobbying for a Nobel Peace Prize. The proposed renaming, however, requires the green light from Congress.
Reacting to this, Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker labelled Trump a “wannabe dictator.”
He has aligned himself with state and city officials, as well as numerous Chicago residents, in condemning the notion of a federal crackdown as unnecessary.