Republican Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde said Friday that “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is “so strong” among Democrats that they will continue to resist President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce violent crime in Washington, D.C., regardless of how it impacts their voters.
Clyde told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive interview that while Trump and Republicans want to “restore law and order” to the nation’s capital, the Democratic Party has been prioritizing “cheering on” those who commit crimes. The Georgia Republican added that Democrats are “supporting criminals” while the GOP and Trump are moving to help “law-abiding citizens.”
“It goes to show you how vastly different the two sides are,” Clyde told the DCNF. “Here you have President Trump and the Republicans wanting to restore law and order, wanting to make the city safe for the American people and for the residents of D.C. and you have the Democrats, who are there cheering on the criminals. And that is baffling to me, you know, I guess either Trump Derangement Syndrome is so strong for the Democrats that anything President Trump does, whether it helps them, you know, and helps their constituency or not, they’re going to oppose [it].”
“Here, his intent is to reduce violent crime, to make the city more safe. I mean, how many people were murdered on average in a week in the city every week in the city of Washington, D.C.? Anywhere from one to three? And we had a couple of weeks there where no one was murdered, so how many lies were actually saved during those two weeks?” Clyde continued. “You know, it’s pretty evident that the Democrats here are supporting the criminals and the Republicans and the president are supporting law-abiding citizens and so I think the country really needs to see that. And I think the country will side with Republicans and the president.”
Trump has been spearheading an effort to stamp out violent crime in Washington, D.C., including moving in August to deploy National Guard troops to the nation’s capital in an effort to help reduce violent crime. Many Democrats have opposed the president’s efforts to tackle crime in the capital city, with some even claiming that the move is a “political liability” for the Republican Party.
Despite Trump’s ongoing crime crackdown facing opposition from many Democrats, some recent polling has indicated that many voters approve of his approach to handling crime.
On Wednesday, Clyde introduced the Commonsense Law Enforcement and Accountability Now in D.C. (CLEAN DC) Act, which would repeal the D.C. City Council’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Emergency Amendment Act of 2022. Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz introduced companion legislation in the Senate on Wednesday.
The D.C. Council’s 2022 law notably prohibits the use of some neck restraints by law enforcement officers and requires additional procedures related to body-worn cameras.
In 2023, Clyde and Republican New York Andrew Rep. Garbarino introduced a joint resolution of disapproval, H.J.Res. 42, to block the D.C. Council’s crime law, which he had referred to as an “anti-police measure,” the Daily Caller first reported in March 2023. Then-Sen. JD Vance introduced the companion bill in the Senate in May 2023.
Although the legislation passed both the House of Representatives and Senate with bipartisan support in 2023, former President Joe Biden vetoed the resolution in May 2023.
“Well, back in 2020, the D.C. City Council with the riots across the land, et cetera. The D.C. City Council passed an ordinance that was basically an anti-police ordinance,” Clyde explained to the DCNF. “Actually, they passed two of them. One was the revised criminal code act of D.C., which eliminated all mandatory minimum sentences for violent crime. Other than, you know, everything second degree murder and down.”
“And that would have simply increased the crime that we are already seeing in the city, and it made no sense whatsoever,” he added. “It was a radically left-wing piece of legislation, and so we led a congressional review act to take it down and to eliminate it and it was successful.”
Clyde told the DCNF that the D.C. Council’s police law is “very much an anti-police act.”
“The D.C. Police Union was very much against it [the D.C. Council’s police law] because they knew that their officers would be hurt by it,” the congressman said. “So we led a Congressional Review Act to eliminate that as well back in 2023.”
Clyde noted that the 2023 bill “passed in a bipartisan way, with 14 Democrat votes on the House side and then … in the Senate as well, with eight Democrat Senators voting for it. Then it went to President Biden’s desk and he vetoed it.”
“And the reason he [Biden] gave was that he wanted the D.C. City Council to be able to determine their own destiny for the city of Washington, D.C. Well, there’s a problem with that. In the Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 says that Congress has the exclusive legislative authority over the city of Washington, D.C.,” Clyde told the DCNF. “He [Biden] actually wants the city council to be in charge of a city that is supposed to be for all Americans.”
“The city of Washington, D.C. was designed through our Constitution, not to be just a city for the residents, but it was to be a city for all of America,” the lawmaker added.
Clyde went on to say that the main goal of his CLEAN DC Act is to keep Washington, D.C. “safe” and ensure that the city council will “respect the job” that local law enforcement officers do.
“I’m pretty excited, actually, and I like the fact that the prior co-sponsor of that in the Senate is now our vice president, you know? So it’s pretty cool,” Clyde said. “I believe he’s gonna see a bill that he sponsored in the Senate, come to be made law by the president under which he serves now.”
“I think that’s a pretty cool aspect of it, but the entire point of the bill is to make the city of Washington, D.C. more safe, he added. “That’s it, and for the city council to respect the job that the law enforcement officer does because it is a very difficult job.”
“And with this act you know, still in place, it shows that they don’t,” Clyde said. “It shows that the city council does not have or will not back law enforcement as they should be.”
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