WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance thanked Nationwide Guard troops for making D.C.’s Union Station secure from “vagrants” on Wednesday in an occasion highlighting President Donald Trump’s militarized takeover of the town’s police.
Vance was accompanied by Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, Deputy White Home Chief of Employees Stephen Miller, and an amazing present of pressure that included dozens of federal brokers, Nationwide Guard troops and armored navy autos ― in addition to protesters against the Trump administration’s crackdown.
“Free D.C.” and pro-Palestinian activists heckled Vance loudly and in vulgar phrases as he entered the restaurant, the place he thanked the Nationwide Guard troopers for his or her work and handed out espresso.
“We recognize all the pieces that you just’re doing,” Vance stated. “You guys bust your ass all day, we provide you with a hamburger. Not a good commerce, however we’re grateful for all the pieces you guys do.”
Trump took over the native police and deployed troops in Washington in response to a supposed “crime emergency” after native youngsters attacked an administration staffer final month. Information from D.C. police counsel crime, whereas greater than in different cities, has truly fallen considerably lately.
Republicans have routinely complained about homeless folks and aggressive panhandlers at Union Station, the place many guests first enter the district, and Wednesday’s photograph op appeared designed as some kind of declaration of victory.
“A few years in the past, after I introduced my children right here, they have been being screamed at by violent vagrants, and it was scaring the hell out of my children,” Vance advised reporters throughout an interview contained in the restaurant, in keeping with a video feed from the Protection Division.
Vance needed to speak over the protesters, nevertheless, who chanted repeatedly whereas he, Miller and Hegseth talked to reporters. Earlier than he entered the restaurant, one protester repeatedly yelled that he was a “sofa fucker,” a reference to a made-up internet meme that went viral final yr.
“I do know that we’ve traded now some violent, loopy people who find themselves screaming at children with a couple of loopy liberals who’re screaming on the vp,” Vance stated. “However I feel that’s a really worthwhile commerce to make, as a result of we would like our folks to have the ability to get pleasure from our stunning cities.”
Miller stated the protesters weren’t precise D.C. residents, opposite to their repeated statements that they lived right here.
“All these demonstrators that you just’ve seen out right here in current days, all of those aged white hippies, they’re not a part of the town, and by no means have been,” Miller stated.
A survey released Wednesday discovered the overwhelming majority of D.C. residents fee their neighborhoods “good” or “wonderful,” and that almost all disapprove of the Trump administration’s takeover.
Outdoors the constructing, regulation enforcement mounted an amazing presence. Nationwide Guard troops and large armored autos, Drug Enforcement Administration brokers, U.S. marshals, Capitol Law enforcement officials, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police, Amtrak police and Secret Service brokers stood guard as gawking guests received out and in of Uber vehicles, and vacationers boarded double-decker sightseeing buses.
Nan Raphael, a D.C. resident and veteran who confirmed as much as protest Trump’s takeover of the district, stated she feared different states have been subsequent.
“If the capital goes down, so does the remainder of the nation. That’s how authoritarian regimes work. So we have now to maintain our metropolis free,” she advised HuffPost.
“This, I feel, is a waste of our taxpayer cash. They’re simply right here for a present of pressure, to harass, and so they can’t actually do something,” she added.
Vance and Hegseth left Wednesday’s occasion as loud boos and chants from protesters echoed within the cavernous prepare station.
