US troops patrolling the country’s capital as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime began carrying weapons, while the administration mulled deploying the military to other major American cities.
The White House has insisted soldiers were necessary to help overstretched local law enforcement, but critics have retorted that the president is solely targeting Democrat-controlled cities in order to punish opponents: Trump threatened similar measures against Baltimore and promised “help with New York,” while The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is planning a military deployment to Chicago. The Washington, DC, deployment has so far been the most expansive, with thousands of National Guard troops patrolling the city, many of them now armed with handguns and rifles.