<figure id="attachment_3135062" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3135062" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3135062" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/569a3a0b-washington-national-guard.jpg" alt="Washington national guard" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3135062" class="wp-caption-text">National Guard troops wearing heavy combat gear patrol the US Capitol area in Washington. (AP pic)</figcaption></figure>
WASHINGTON: Outside the busiest train station in Washington, newly deployed National Guard troops wearing camouflage lean on a huge military Humvee.
Wary residents and curious tourists stop to take photos, while inside the elegant Union Station a string trio plays &#8220;What a Wonderful World.&#8221;
Christian Calhoun, a 26-year-old consultant who was born and raised in the US capital, told AFP that seeing the troops made him &#8220;more than disappointed &#8211; I&#8217;m furious.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s a lot of standing around,&#8221; he added.
Declaring that Washington is overrun by crime and plagued by homeless people, President Donald Trump has deployed 800 National Guard troops, as well as ordering a federal takeover of the city&#8217;s police department.
Over more than an hour on Thursday afternoon, the most that the handful of troops at Union Station interacted with the public was to let a French tourist take a selfie with them.
Larry Janezich, an 81-year-old resident, said he had not seen the troops taking part in &#8220;any kind of meaningful action that is dedicated to the prevention of crime.&#8221;
Patricia Darby, a 65-year-old retiree, said that the troops &#8220;don&#8217;t want to be here,&#8221; pointing to how some had their faces covered.
Calhoun said he does &#8220;feel bad&#8221; for them as they wore heavy combat gear as temperatures soared above 33C.
&#8216;Fake news&#8217;
On his Truth Social platform, Trump this week described Washington as &#8220;under siege from thugs and killers,&#8221; with higher crime rates than &#8220;many of the most violent Third World Countries.&#8221;
Residents outside Union Station rejected the apocalyptic image.
&#8220;It&#8217;s ridiculous, and it really just shows how (Trump) sees the people that live here,&#8221; Calhoun said.
&#8220;It&#8217;s totally false, and obviously promulgated on his media to justify an unwarranted exercise of federal power,&#8221; Janezich said.
Gerry Cosgrove, a 62-year-old tourist from the Scottish city of Edinburgh only in Washington for two days, had a simple response when asked about Trump&#8217;s portrayal of the city: &#8220;To quote a phrase: fake news.&#8221;
Trump has also ordered homeless people to &#8220;move out&#8221; of Washington.
&#8220;Where are they going to go?&#8221; Darby asked, after fetching a bottle of water for a homeless person in the heat.
Randy Kindle, who volunteers with a protest group in a tent outside Union Station, told AFP he was afraid that homeless people could now end up in confinement or jail &#8220;when all they need is help.&#8221;
Guadalupe, a homeless man in his late 70s originally from Mexico, told AFP that the troops had asked him to move on Wednesday night.
&#8220;They have no manners,&#8221; he said in Spanish.
&#8220;I almost felt sick&#8221; during the interaction, he added.
Calhoun said he had mostly seen the troops outside train stations, adding that he noticed they had &#8220;a lot of focus on cannabis use.&#8221;
Washington legalised cannabis use on private property in 2015, however it is still prohibited under federal law.
Several residents also raised the cost of deploying the troops in their city.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a waste of money &#8211; I think DC was safe,&#8221; Darby said.

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