The White House has declared the federal takeover of the Washington, D.C. police has been very popular among residents, but many local business owners say they are seeing a steep decline in walk-in traffic and reservations.
One restaurant owner, citing already rising labor and ingredient costs:
“It’s like drowning and then someone throws a 100 lb weight to you.”
Trump claims his militarized takeover of DC has made people feel safer to go out to restaurants, but in fact restaurants in DC have seen the number of diners plummet more than 25% since he sent feds into the street. www.wusa9.com/article/news…
— Lincoln Square (@lincolnsquare.media) August 19, 2025 at 3:12 PM
From the Washington Post:
Since President Donald Trump announced his takeover of the D.C. police force last week, restaurant reservations have dropped in the city by as much as 31 percent year over year for a single day, according to restaurant booking data.
On the day of Trump’s announcement, the number of online reservations in Washington dining rooms dropped by 16 percent from the same date the previous year, according to OpenTable.
Since then, reservations have dipped almost every day, falling as much as 31 percent in a single day compared to the same period in 2024.
Nick Pimentel, co-founder of Elle in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood, told the Post the numbers suggest this will be the slowest August in his restaurant’s seven-year history, including during the pandemic-affected summer of 2020.
Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) has spoken to nearly a dozen restaurant owners in his district, and said they’re telling him the same thing: In the last week, they’re seeing less foot traffic.
Additionally, The New Republic reports the Trump administration has been nabbing delivery drivers off the street mid-order as part of its sweeping federal effort as witnessed by multiple residents. As such, many workers are apparently not showing up for work out of fear.
But Trump told “Fox & Friends” viewers on Tuesday a different story declaring, “Did you see what’s happening with the restaurants? They’re bursting.”
Meanwhile, a new poll of D.C. residents shows the vast majority of residents, though, don’t want Trump controlling law enforcement efforts in the city – 8 in 10 oppose Trump’s executive order to federalize law enforcement in the city, with about 7 in 10 opposing it “strongly.”
Residents of Washington, D.C., overwhelmingly oppose President Trump’s takeover of the D.C. police and the presence of federal law enforcement and the National Guard on District streets, a new poll found.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) August 20, 2025 at 6:00 AM
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