The Briefing, Vol. XIII, Issue 32
Aug. 11, 2025
This week:
- Trump’s D.C. takeover
- He is almost halfway to completing all the goals of Project 2025
- Blackburn running for governor in Tenn.
Outlook
D.C. Home rule: The second Trump presidency so far has been characterized by aggressive challenges to conventional wisdom.
“You think we can’t actually shut down the border and enforce immigration laws without any kind of comprehensive legislative reform? You think we can’t shutter USAID and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting? Fire tens thousands of federal employees and end collective bargaining for entire swaths of the federal workforce? End diversity programs? Purge the FBI of its embedded deep-staters?
“Just watch us.”
Now, however, an unfortunate and tragic incident in the nation’s capital has Trump taking on a whole new area of concern: Home rule in the District of Columbia.
The Constitution makes D.C. a federal district. This means that it falls under the direct power of the federal government in a way no state does. The district has autonomy only to the degree that Congress permits it. And it has been relatively permissive since passing the Home Rule Act in 1973.
Even so, the feds retain the upper hand. The president appoints all of the District’s local judges. Congress can, at any time, overturn local D.C. legislation, as it did in 2023 when the District Council tried to weaken penalties for carjacking just as carjacking was becoming a massive problem in the District. D.C. inmates go into the federal prison system for what would in most cases be state crimes. And the District government cannot even access its own local tax revenue unless Congress approves it as an appropriation.
‘Big Balls’ incident: But D.C., as a recent tragedy reminded everyone, is a very badly-run and extremely dangrous city, even by the standards of badly-run and dangerous U.S. cities. This was the attempted carjacking of DOGE hero Edward Coristine (aka “Big Balls), who thwarted his attackers but was brutally beaten in the incident.
The District is a very violent place. Those who have lived there understand not to go out at night in most neighborhoods, and to watch their backs even in its nicest parts. The annual D.C. murder count has more than doubled since reaching its modern low-point 2012. The body count was especially high during the pandemic, but even a normal year for murders in D.C. is roughly on par with David Dinkins’ New York City of 1990, where there were more than 2,200 murders.
New York City had only 377 murders last year compared to D.C.’s 187, even though New York has about 12 times as many residents as D.C.
What’s more, the leadership of the District’s Metropolitan Police Department was recently caught cooking the books to make violent crime seem less common than it really is. (The murder rate is what tells the real story, because you can’t easily cheat the numbers when there are dead bodies with fatal wounds.)
Trump challenges assumptions: There’s no reason for the nation’s capital to be one of the world’s most dangerous capitals, and this carjacking has brought it to Trump’s attention. He is launching a massive crackdown on crime and also on homeless encampments, which have cropped up alongside a parkway in one of the nicest parts of town.
Where his predecessors have been reluctant to wade into D.C. politics, Trump is chomping at the bit to get involved with aggressive federal law enformcent within the District. As with border enforcement, this is a project with unique opportunities. The stakes are very low because the situation is already so bad. The fruit is very low-hanging, since a relatively small number of criminals commit most of the crime in — much of the problem can be fixed quickly by simply identifying and incarcerating them for the maximum terms possible.
Moreover, as with border enforcement, if Trump succeeds, he has a real chance to change the minds of people who currently don’t support him and usually wouldn’t even consider voting Republican.
Six month mark: Just under six months into his second administration, President Trump is facing some headwinds. His approval ratings are struggling — in some surveys, at least. Also, his own base is impatient and upset over certain specific issues, including the Epstein affair and, in some cases, the Iran attack.
If that’s the bad news for Trump, here is the good news: He is succeeding in implementing his agenda. He has put his mark on Washington already and may be the most consequential president at least since Ronald Reagan.
Half done: According to one estimate, Trump has already accomplished 47 percent of the goals in Project 2025. This includes the effective end of USAID, Voice of America
By signing a rescission bill, he actually cut spending, albeit by a modest $9 billion. It is hard to find another president who has done even that much.
The U.S. border is finally secure in a way it hadn’t been at any point in the 21st Century. Immigration laws are actually being enforced for the first time, and a huge dose of funding is on its way to facilitate the deportations. The list of unsavory individuals being taken off the streets and imprisoned or deported continues to grow longer and longer.
Trump’s first-term tax cuts for individuals have been made permanent. He has withdrawn from or defunded harmful climate-related commitments and international institutions that have been corrupted by foreign powers such as communist China and Hamas.
Multiple states, with a federal blessing, are banning the use of SNAP benefits to purchase of unhealthy, nutrient-free sugary food and drinks. A significant number of deranged individuals have been purged from sensitive intelligence positions. So have many others who happily weaponized the intelligence organs and the justice system against conservatives, pro-lifers, former Trump officials, and Trump himself.
Despite the turbulence of his first term — generated mostly by malign Democratic dirty tricks now being exposed — Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices and created the court we have today.
Governor 2026
Tennessee: Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R) will be the overwhelming favorite for governor. In the primary, she is set to face Rep. John Rose (R), who announced his candidacy back in March, unless he bails out.
Democrats have no one of note, and their state party is extremely depleted in its bench. The more interesting question might be whom she or incumbent Gov. Bill Lee (R) will pick to replace her if we wins and resigns from the Senate. (Exiting senators often resign early during the lame-duck period so that their replacements can get more seniority for their state.) One prominent name in the mix to replace her is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Senate 2026
Florida: Schoolteacher and former Sixth District congressional nominee Josh Weil (D) quit this race for health reasons week before last. Democrats are at this point scraping the bottom of the barrel for caniddates to challenge appointed Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) in this special election. Among the possible contenders are state Rep. Angie Nixon (D) and a former school board member named Jennifer Jenkins (D).
Between this and the governor’s race, the desiccated state of the Florida Democratic Party is on full display. Its bench is all but empty, its best candidates have all lost statewide, and it continues to lose ground in terms of party voter registration with every passing month. The latest figures show Republican voter registration at 41 percent of the electorate and with a 1.3 million voter advantage over Florida Democrats. Ten years ago, Republicans were just 32 percent of all Florida voters and were 327,000 voters behind the Democrats. In a very short time, Florida has come a very long way indeed.
Georgia: There’s A new TIPP poll for the League of American Workers gives some sense of where the Republican primary is in the election to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.). Rep. Mike Collins leads the field of Republicans with 27 percent, with Rep. Buddy Carter at 20 percent and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley at 8 percent. Dooley, who entered the race only recently, has the backing of Gov. Brian Kemp. The nominee must either score above 50 percent or win a runoff election against the other top finisher.
This race will likely be Republicans’ best Senate pickup opportunity of 2026. The poll shows both Dooley and Carter trailing Ossoff by two points, and Collins trailing by one point, 45 to 44 percent.
