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Donald Trump’s disdain for Democratic-run cities featured heavily in his 2024 campaign. The president vowed to take over DC – a promise he attempted to fulfill this week. Earlier this year, he sent national guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests despite California opposing the move, which led to a lawsuit from the state.

City leaders say there are appropriate ways for the federal government to partner with them to address issues such as crime, but that Trump is using the pretext of crime and unrest to override their local authority, create chaos and distract from a bruising news cycle about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Many cities have worked to bring down violent crime rates – they are on the decline in most large cities, though mayors acknowledge they still have work to do to improve the lives of their residents.

August 13, 2025

Last year, Claire Raizen, a social worker at Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital[...] put up a small postcard at her desk bearing the words “Gaza Must Live.” Raizen said this affirmation of her values in her workplace was an attempt to manage the disconnect that arose from “knowing atrocities are happening” in Gaza while she went about her daily life. The postcard was in a space where only co-workers came and went, she said, and was out of view of patients.

At first, other employees at the top-ranked hospital who saw the postcard reacted positively, Raizen said. “I had co-workers that would come into my office and say, ‘it’s so amazing to know that this is a safe place to talk about Palestine."