Rick Scott says Donald Trump will make D.C. safe for his grandkids

Rick Scott
The Naples Republican welcomes armed troops in Washington's streets.

President Donald Trump’s decision to mobilize the National Guard to deal with crime in the nation’s capital is drawing praise from a Florida Senator.

During a chat with Charlie Kirk, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott revealed that the unorthodox decision to deploy makes him feel better about family visiting him in Washington, D.C.

“I’m very thankful. Guess what? This is going to be a place where I can tell my grandkids, ‘Hey, you want to come here and enjoy the city now,'” the Naples Republican predicted.

“Before I would have to say, ‘Oh, you can come here, but you’ve got to be very careful, you can’t be out after dark. You can’t go, you’ve got to be careful going to a restaurant or anything after dark.’ So he’s going to change (D.C.) dramatically. It’s going to be great.”

In his executive order announcing the Guard mobilization, Trump depicted Washington as a place where government staffers are increasingly threatened by the criminal element.

“The District of Columbia has lost control of public order and safety in the city, as evidenced by the two embassy staffers who were murdered in May, the Congressional intern who was fatally shot a short distance from the White House in June, and the Administration staffer who was mercilessly beaten by a violent mob days ago,” the order reads in part.

Scott’s read of events jibes with this dystopian description.

“D.C. is not safe. People don’t just walk the streets in D.C. and feel safe, anywhere around D.C. I mean, I’ve got to be careful what I do. But I’ve got people in my office, they’re very careful about where they go,” Scott said.

The order extends elastic powers to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, giving him latitude to “mobilize the District of Columbia National Guard and order members to active service, in such numbers as he deems necessary, to address the epidemic of crime in our Nation’s capital.”

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


3 comments

  • robert ball

    August 12, 2025 at 1:48 pm

    Federalizing a local Law enforcement agency without local voters involvement is a pure authoritarian action against the people. Proof America is know a dictatorship, democracy is dead. Hitler took the same action in 1933 creating the SS and Gestopo. Very sad because we elected this President as the Germans elected Chancellor.

    Reply

  • ScienceBLVR

    August 12, 2025 at 9:05 pm

    Woo boy, so glad those kiddos were not visiting on Jan 6th, when Trump supporters attacked the capital and DC police. No one was safe that day. I’d say Scott needs to rethink how capable Trump is of curbing violence- as opposed to fomenting it, that is..

    Reply

  • LawLib

    August 13, 2025 at 12:58 pm

    Scott should be more worried about his grandkids growing up in an authoritarian dictatorship and seeing all their freedoms disappear completely. The D.C. metro police and their mayor have made strong inroads in addressing crime in the capitol city.

    Reply

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