Nothing in President Trump’s second term has captured his autocratic imagination quite like turning federalized police and military troops against the Black mayors of Democratic cities.

Trump’s target list expanded on Monday, when he seized control of Washington, D.C.’s local police and deployed 800 National Guard troops to patrol the streets.

Trump spared no bluster in portraying the people of the District of Columbia as animals consumed by violent criminal instincts, remarking to reporters that they “fight back until you knock the hell out of them, because it’s the only language they understand.” That would come as a shock to the D.C. police, who confirmed that violent crime is down 26 percent in the city this year and currently sits at a 30-year low.

Of course, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to see Trump portraying a majority-minority city as a haven of crime and thuggery. He did the same in Los Angeles, where he dispatched the National Guard in June to terrorize the city’s mayor — his long-time political foe........

© The Hill