DeWine’s decision to send National Guard troops to D.C. devolves into the usual partisan perspectives

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s decision to send Ohio National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., is being lauded and criticized, and as usual, positions fall along party lines.

“We have been asked by the Secretary of the Army to send 150 military police from the Ohio National Guard to support the District of Columbia National Guard,” DeWine said in a statement. “These Ohio National Guard members will carry out presence patrols and serve as added security. None of these military police members are currently serving as law enforcement officers in the state of Ohio.”

According to WTVG-TV, Ohio is sending 150 military police officers. DeWine told Statehouse News Bureau that the deployment would be “a limited engagement for 30 days.”

He continued: “I told the adjutant general that we would do that with one caveat, and that would be that none of the MPs would be taken from any police department in the state. I didn’t want to deplete our local police departments in any way.”

The governor noted that he’s deployed National Guard troops to both Democratic and Republican jurisdictions, including to Minnesota at Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s request amid protests in the wake of George Floyd’s 2020 death.

“This is very consistent with what I’ve done for the last six and a half years,” DeWine told Statehouse. “Whether it’s Democrat or Republican, I don’t care. We want to support the local community. And again, this is a request directly from Secretary of the Army, to support our troops who are in Washington D.C., the Washington D.C. National Guard. And so that’s the request that we fulfilled.”

Liberals are incensed at the prospect, generally complaining that it is an abuse of power by President Trump.

A columnist for the Ohio Capital Journal filed a piece titled, “Ohio Gov. DeWine sending guard troops to D.C. makes him complicit in Trump’s military occupation.”

“DeWine must know the bizarre, militarized occupation of D.C. is based on fallacies about rising Washington crime debunked by data that proves otherwise,” columnist Marilou Johanek wrote before admitting “violent crime” remains a problem in the nation’s capital.

“To be sure, violent crime is a serious, ongoing problem in D.C. — as it is in other major U.S. cities — but Trump’s hostile takeover of the capital city is not about effective crime-fighting and prevention,” Johanek added. “It is a distraction. A stunt. Trump has to change the subject about the Epstein coverup with something surreal.”

In a statement, Democratic U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty took a similar position, calling Trump a “lawless President who has repeatedly ignored our nation’s Constitution.”

“Let’s be clear: Trump’s actions are not about addressing crime,” Beatty said in a statement. “They are about instilling fear in our communities and distracting from the failed tariff policies, unlawful actions, and lack of transparency from this administration.”

However, supporters argue that the move is necessary to combat crime. While some accounts indicate that crime numbers are improving, claims about the veracity have arisen, pointing to a television station’s report that a district police commander is being investigated for allegedly altering his district’s crime statistics.

“Crime in our nation’s capital is out of control and local leaders have proven themselves to be unable to keep the city safe,” Reagan McCarthy, a spokeswoman for Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno said in a statement to The Columbus Dispatch. “Senator Moreno is grateful to President Trump for taking bold action to make DC a safe place to work and live, and glad Governor DeWine is sending the president backup from our great state.”

While critics might be upset, Ohio is not the only state to send members of the National Guard to Washington to help. Republican governors of other states, including South Carolina and West Virginia, also authorized troops to head to the nation’s capital.

“South Carolina is proud to stand with President Trump as he works to restore law and order to our nation’s capital and ensure safety for all who live, work, and visit there,” South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster said in a statement. “As our National Guard works to support President Trump’s mission, should a hurricane or natural disaster threaten our state, these men and women can and will be immediately recalled home to respond.”