In case you haven’t heard, Donald Trump signed an executive order that effectively put Washington, DC under federal control. He seized authority over the local police and deployed 800 National Guard troops to the city. 
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Trump has declared a “crime emergency” in the city, despite pushback from DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, who argued that while 2023 saw an “unacceptable spike,” violent crime is at a 30-year low. And now, Trump’s doubling down — the 800 National Guard members already on the ground will soon be joined by another 1,100-plus troops from Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio.
So, what does this all look like for DC residents right now? This past week, Rob Perez — a Navy vet, DC resident, and running content creator — decided to find out the old-fashioned way: by lacing up his sneakers and hitting the streets. His video documenting what’s going on blew up with over 10 million views and nearly 2 million likes, giving everyone watching this all unfold at home a front-row seat to what’s going down in the city. 
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“I’m about to go on a run here through DC and show you what it looks like now that the Trump administration has sent in the National Guard and federalized our police force,” he began in the viral clip. 
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Before setting off, he just gave a glimpse of his own block, pointing out the rows of police and federal vehicles lined up outside: “We’ve got police right here,” he said. 
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“This is Border Patrol.” 
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“And then these are some unmarked vehicles.” 
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“As well as more Border Patrol.” 
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Following that group of cars, he made his way to Union Station. “Here is what the scene looks like,” he said, panning to military vehicles lined up out front. 
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“Kind of a weird scene here, but we’ve got three of these military trucks sitting behind me.” 
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Rob then headed in the direction of the Capitol, where he heard what sounded like protesters. “There’s a bunch of whistles blowing as well as a bunch of sirens coming up the street it sounds like.” 
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“Not sure what building this is, but it turns out it’s megaphones and pots and pans, and they’re trying to disturb whatever building this is,” he continued. 
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(It’s the Fox News building, which I presume is what the protest was for.) 
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As he ran, Rob emphasized that he’s not trying to create a narrative, but let viewers decide for themselves their reaction and feelings. “Just to be 100% clear, none of these videos are meant for, like, fear-mongering, not trying to scare anyone. I just simply wanna show you what it looks like. And obviously, draw your own conclusions,” he said, adding that if he spots something that’s an obvious safety risk for DC residents, he’ll call it out. 
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He continued, running toward Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. “In front of me, I have about eight agents along with police.” 
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“We got Border Patrol, Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and one that just says federal agent,” he said, documenting the different federal agents in front of him. 
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He then panned to protesters. One screamed, “Get the f*ck out of my city.” And another, “Get out of my home. Your mother never loved you.” 
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He then witnessed a group of border patrol and police stop two men for smoking weed. 
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From there, Rob shared what he saw from bystanders near the federal agents patrolling the streets. “Just in the few blocks that I walked alongside those federal agents, the number of scared reactions that I saw from people of color that were walking just down the street, minding their business, was insane,” he said. 
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“Just to give you an example, a Black mother and her son [were] walking down the street,” Rob continued. “The second they turned the corner and saw the agents walking towards them, she immediately grabbed her son’s hand and told him, ‘When you see these people out here walking around, you’re gonna hold my hand, ’cause I want them to know that you’re mine and you’re not out here causing trouble. ‘Cause we don’t want any trouble with them.'” 
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“It was truly just so disheartening to see,” Rob said. 
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Rob then made his way past the White House to see if there were any protests. There wasn’t, so he headed to the George Washington Campus, which he said previously had “heavy presence” earlier in the night. “Not so much anymore, there’s a couple individuals hanging out by some of the tents that are normally here, so I’m gonna go see what’s being said there,” he continued.
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Outside near the campus, where some people who are unhoused stay, Rob said, “I don’t necessarily want to show faces, but one person was picked up here by a shelter van that took him to a local shelter, as opposed to being surrounded here in Washington Circle by a bunch of federal agents.” 
@r.oh.bee / Via tiktok.com As part of his federal takeover of policing in the city, Trump said people who are unhoused will be moved out of the city. “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital,” he wrote on a Truth Social post.
But how exactly he plans to do that has not been clear, and advocates argue that rounding up people’s belongings and kicking them out without certainty on where they can go is not the best strategy, especially because there are not enough shelter beds for everyone being pushed out.
Rob observed that there seemed to be confusion among the different agencies about who is actually in charge of enforcing unhoused people out of the city. “For example, at that location, DC police was putting up a bunch of notices on all the tents letting people know that they do have to leave the area,” he said. 
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Rob explained that some agents seemingly would show up and honor the notice and move on, but others would try to re-intervene, causing confusion. “[It] sounds like some of the other agencies would show up and basically ignore the notice and start asking people, ‘Hey do you have somewhere you can go right now? You gotta go,'” he said. “It wasn’t forceful, but I’m sure it’s definitely causing some confusion amongst the unhoused people here.” 
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At the end of his run (and the end of his video), Rob headed into a Wawa for a drink. Inside, he overheard two police officers as they got a notification saying that they are now allowed to ask the immigration status of people they detain. “They looked at each other and immediately shook their heads,” he said. “And then one of them said, ‘That ain’t my job.’ That just tells me that the police here even feel like it’s an overreach.” 
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Rob said his goal was mostly to just report the facts of what was happening on his run, and let people come to their own conclusions after watching. But in the comments, people did not hold back their opinions. The majority were overwhelmingly shocked and scared by what Rob shared. “As a Brazilian, trust me: when the military is on the streets you’re in a dictatorship,” a top comment read. 
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“This isn’t normal. This is what a dictatorship country looks like,” another echoed. 
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“This is so dystopian…Handmaids tale is coming true 😭,” this person said. 
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“in handmaid’s tale, DC was first…..” another read. 
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“All that money… border patrol is how far from any border??” one wrote. 
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“Because America can’t afford health care but we can afford this,” another said. 
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Some applauded Rob for using his privilege for good. “Using your privilege to spy, I see you 😏,” one wrote. 
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Rob told BuzzFeed, for him, that’s partially the point. “I recognize that I am a white man and am privileged because of that. I am able to go unbothered by police and unquestioned because of the way that I look,” he said. 
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He said this is not the first time he went out and documented what’s going on in DC from a citizen perspective — he also went out during Trump’s inauguration and the parade for the 250th anniversary of the Army, which was also Trump’s birthday. “I ran all over the city to record and document how people were feeling and what the energy and vibes were like,” he told BuzzFeed when he went out on inauguration day. He said he mostly saw extreme reactions and incidents reported in the media, so he wanted to see what was happening for himself. 
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During the 250th military parade, Rob said he went as a photographer, but also as a quiet protester, wearing a “FDT” (F*** Donald Trump) T-shirt. “I walked right through the security checkpoints with my cameras, and no one cared, even though I was clearly walking into an event that was full of Trump supporters,” he told BuzzFeed. Rob said he was even given a special access pass when he arrived, despite his shirt. “This just reinforced that I can go just about anywhere unbothered, so I plan to continue to do that as DC goes through all of this with Trump in office.” 
@r.oh.bee / Via tiktok.com He also shared that while he runs because it’s what he makes content about, it’s also the easiest and lowest risk for his own security. “It’s just me and a cellphone. No bicycle, no car, nothing. So I breeze past police and security around these types of events.”
Rob said he also wants people to understand what’s going on in DC because of its unique position, which is vulnerable to federal control. DC is a congressionally established federal district — not a state — allowing Trump to overtake the police force and federalize the city. “We aren’t a state; we don’t get representation in the Senate. We have a non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives. We pay more federal taxes per person than any of the actual 50 states. Then, to add on top of all of this, since the most recent Trump admin, [60,000+] federal jobs have been cut — majority of which have been here in DC.” 
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“I have seen comments where people say that we should vote against these things, not realizing that we don’t get those votes in Congress,” he said. “I am more just hoping that people get a deeper understanding of how DC is so different at a government level, which intensifies everything that happens here under Trump, and while we have federal agents and the military walking our streets.”
Overall, Rob said the response to his videos has been positive, and he welcomes all opinions. “Some of the most common comments I get are something to the effect of, ‘Thank you for showing us this from your perspective.’ And that was the whole goal, so it has been a success to share these videos.” 
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In a way, Rob’s also helping by being a voice for those in DC who don’t feel they can speak up right now. “Lots of DC [residents] work for the government, or are contractors for the government. With that, most DC residents can’t go out and speak freely about how they feel with all of this going on. They could lose their job,” he told BuzzFeed. “It’s tough to know that the people that are working for our country every day, don’t even get to go share their opinion,” he shared. “The ‘freedom’ of being an American is being taken away from the people who show up every day to protect it. It’s just weird.”
Personally, as someone living across the country in California, I’m grateful for people like Rob who are openly going out of their way to share what’s happening in DC and how people are feeling. In a time when it often seems we aren’t being shown the full truth, that kind of perspective feels more important than ever. At the end of the day, as cities like LA and DC have shown us, it’s the people who have to come together and persist. 
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And as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in April 1963 from a Birmingham jail, where he was held for leading nonviolent protests against segregation: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.
