White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on Wednesday reportedly launched a blistering defense of the administration’s federal crime crackdown in Washington, D.C., sharply dismissing demonstrators he derided as “stupid white hippies” who, he argued, do not represent the city’s residents.
Speaking inside Union Station, where National Guard troops have been deployed for days, Mr. Miller was joined by Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a show of support for federal officers. “We are not going to let the communists destroy a great American city, let alone the nation’s capital,” he said to a crowd gathered near Shake Shack.
Turning his attention to protesters who have jeered federal officers in recent days, Mr. Miller was unsparing. “And let’s just also address another thing.
All these demonstrators you’ve seen out here in recent days, all these elderly white hippies, they’re not part of the city and never have been. And by the way, most of the citizens who live in Washington, D.C., are Black.”
“So we’re going to ignore these stupid white hippies that all need to go home and take a nap because they’re all over 90 years old,” he added. “And we’re going to get back to the business of protecting the American people and the citizens of Washington, D.C.”
Washington has long been known as “Chocolate City,” a nod to its historic African American majority.
Demographic shifts in recent decades mean that Black residents no longer make up more than half the city’s population, but the Trump administration has emphasized that its law-and-order policies are intended to protect longtime residents who have borne the brunt of crime.
Earlier this month, President Trump ordered a surge of federal law enforcement resources across parts of the capital, saying the level of crime had become “unacceptable.”
He followed with an executive order federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department and dispatching hundreds of National Guard troops across the city. Since the crackdown began on August 7, the White House said, officers have made more than 550 arrests.
Yet, despite those arrests and the administration’s assurances of restored order, local residents remain largely skeptical.
A Washington Post-Schar School poll released Wednesday found that 65 percent of D.C. residents did not believe Mr. Trump’s actions would make the city safer. Roughly 80 percent opposed the president’s move to seize control of the local police force.
The skepticism comes even as city officials acknowledge broader concerns about crime.
Videos circulated online last week showed large crowds in the Columbia Heights neighborhood jeering federal officers as they walked back to their vehicles, underscoring the tensions between local residents and the federal presence.
Still, the Trump administration has made clear it intends to stay the course. For Mr. Miller and other senior officials, the confrontation with protesters and the friction with city leaders highlight a broader national debate over crime, policing, and immigration that the White House believes plays to its political strengths.
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