More than 2,200 National Guard troops are patrolling the streets of Washington, DC (the nation’s capital, also known as DC), on orders from President Donald Trump. The National Guard is a branch of the US military that typically reports to state governors. Because Washington, DC, is not a state, its National Guard answers to the President.
What happened?
On August 11, Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order to deploy National Guard troops in DC. In addition to more than 900 members of the DC National Guard, about 1,300 National Guard troops from Republican-led states, including Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee, are stationed there. Trump also seized control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD, the DC police force). Trump said these moves were necessary to combat a “crime emergency”…
