Cheetos in the Capital

A nation that chooses this as its answer to crime has lost the thread of both constitutional limits and sustainable governance.

- Katherine Mangu-Ward

HE LOOKED YOUNG, standing with his feet apart on the upper level of the Dupont Circle Metro station, half in shadow and head to toe in camo. A National Guard member. And in his hand: a tiny packet of Cheetos. He dug into the crinkly bag for the last crumbs as commuters streamed past—ignoring him, pretending not to notice, or nervously pretending they weren't pretending. You're not allowed to eat in the D.C. Metro. It’s a rule locals tend to take oddly seriously, like standing on the right of the escalator. But the guardsman wasn't from here. He didn’t know the rules. He was just a guy from South Carolina or Mississippi or Ohio having a quick snack in a place where he has no business being.

“I am not a dictator,” Trump declared in an August Cabinet meeting. But when it comes to fighting crime, he asserted he has “the right to do anything I want to do,” because “if I think our country is in danger—and it is in danger in these cities—I can do it.”

The president and his administration have offered a mishmash of legal justifications for the National Guard and federal presence in cities over his two terms, including Los Angeles and, in the near future, Chicago.