The number of National Guard troops patrolling Washington, D.C., will more than double in the coming days after Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia in the past several days committed troops to President Trump’s federal takeover of the city.

Coupled with indications that the guard members may soon be carrying weapons — a reversal of their initial orders — the new deployments mark a major escalation of Trump’s efforts to take over law enforcement in Washington, D.C.

The roughly 800 D.C. National Guard troops already deployed in the capital will be joined by about 200 personnel from Mississippi, between 300 and 400 from West Virginia, 150 from Ohio and 200 from South Carolina, beefing up a presence that has largely stood idle around typically low-crime, tourist-heavy areas in the city.

“Crime is out of control there, and it’s clear something must be done to combat it,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement Monday, becoming the latest Republican governor to answer to a Trump administration request to send guard members to Washington.

West Virginia, Ohio and South Carolina, meanwhile, pledged their state troops over the weekend, bolstering Trump’s federal........

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