Will Bunch on Trump's DC takeover as a prelude to dictatorship
"It’s critical for his whole authoritarian project."
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Last month, Philadelphia Inquirer national columnist Will Bunch wrote a column characterizing Donald Trump’s federal occupation of DC thusly: "Not distraction. Dictatorship.”
“While some deflection from Epstein news might be a side effect, it’s silly to claim that a military occupation on a major American city heavily populated by Democrats is any kind of distraction,” he wrote. “It’s arguably been the plan for a Trump presidency all along.”
These are notable words coming from Bunch, who has been observing and writing about the GOP’s descent into authoritarianism going back to the Watergate years. (We got into some of Bunch’s storied background the last time we chatted with him for Public Notice, which two years ago as the Republican Party was pursuing an evidence-free impeachment of then-president Biden.)
With Trump now talking about sending troops into Chicago and other major cities under the pretext of “crime,” we connected with Bunch to get his take on what Trump is really up to in DC, his frustrations with how Democrats and elite pundits are responding to it, and much more.
“Crime in Washington DC or other large cities can be a significant issue, but it doesn't excuse fascism,” he said. “Just because crime exists doesn't mean the solution is military occupation.“
The full conversation between Bunch and Public Notice contributor Thor Benson, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows.
Thor Benson
You wrote an article about how Trump’s occupation of Washington DC is a move towards dictatorship, and not a “distraction.” Could you explain that?
Will Bunch
One of the more annoying things I’ve seen over the past seven months is the number of times I’ve been watching the Trump regime carry out what just seems to be their authoritarian mission, and then Democrats will go on MSNBC and claim it’s is a “distraction.”
It’s kind of funny, because it keeps changing. When people started talking about the Epstein scandal a couple months ago, some Democrats actually went on TV and said it was a distraction from the economy. Before that, everything was a distraction from prices going up at the grocery store.
Now that Trump is sending troops and federal agents into DC, it’s being called a distraction from Epstein, which was the first distraction. But if you look at the things they’re calling distractions, they were always central to MAGA’s mission.
The DC situation is a perfect example, because this idea of sending troops into “high crime” cities with Democratic mayors and large Black and brown populations is something that was argued for explicitly in Project 2025. If you watched Trump's campaign in 2024, he frequently brought it up. “We're going to send troops into Chicago and LA” — he’s always wanted to do this. It’s critical for his whole authoritarian project. It's a projection of strength, strongman muscle he can easily flex.
The first seven months of Trump’s second presidency have been marked by a fair amount of protests, including several large ones, like No Kings back in June. The deployments send a message that you're only going to be able to go so far, because if you cross any more lines, you're going to butt up against these troops.
It's also interesting in DC to see where troops are being sent. People point out correctly that they're mainly in high visibility areas. They're also in the places like the National Mall — where people might be inclined to protest the government.
Thor Benson
I've seen a lot of back and forth on shows and podcasts where someone will point out that crime is at a 30-year low, then they'll get jumped on by a conservative who says, “Oh, so you're just going to pretend there's not a crime problem in DC?”
Will Bunch
I’m glad you brought that up. Joe Scarborough on “Morning Joe” really stands out. He went on a long rant recently about how terrible things are in DC, the graffiti people have to drive by and all of this other stuff. His point was that Democrats are fools if they pretend that isn't a problem. And you probably saw that column from Maureen Dowd making a similar point, and she's lived in DC her entire life.
It tends to be a certain kind of white, liberal elite type of pundit saying, “Well, I spend time in DC, and I find the crime or the graffiti or the homeless situation to be terrible, and if the Democrats ignore this, they're going to look bad.” But there’s a giant problem with that whole line of thinking.