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One week after mocking DOGE staffer Edward "Big Balls" Coristine for getting assaulted during an attempted carjacking in Washington, D.C., HBO's Bill Maher claimed to discover the real reason for President Trump's use of the National Guard in the city: to prevent Democrats from taking office should they win the next election. This time, however, Manhattan Institute senior fellow Chris Rufo was there to push back by highlighting just how bad crime in D.C. had gotten.
Maher set Rufo up by explaining his theory that the National Guard deployment is part of a greater conspiracy, "Let me just describe some of the steps, and you tell me if I'm being paranoid. First, create a mass police force and get people used to looking at that. Normalize snatching people off the street, get them used to that. Normalize seeing the National Guard and the military on the street."
He then added, "Then start talking about crime in the capital, which is, basically, you know, it's always been a fairly crime-ridden city. This is our nation's capital, where elections are decided. And then have, because the crime is so bad, have other states start sending their troops, not just the National Guard there in D.C., but now at least six other states are sending their troops, which then Trump can then federalize. So, you're having many states' troops on the ground there, and now they're under federal control."