‘Rat-infested, graffiti-infested sh**hole!’ Trump rants about ‘horribly run’ Washington DC ‘where people are being killed’ – and threatens to ‘take it away’ from Mayor Muriel Bowser

Donald Trump has promised to clean up a ‘rat-infested, graffiti-infested, sh**hole’ Washington DC at a campaign rally in Iowa – a day before the Republican Party’s first caucus.

Trump, who is considered the favorite to win the Republican nomination for a third straight time, appeared to refer to an anti-Israel protest in Washington in November.

He looked at the state of disrepair in the capital and suggested that a federal takeover could be on the cards for Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser’s city.

‘We have a capital that we all love. Right now it’s a rat-infested, graffiti-infested sh**hole where people are being murdered,” Trump said in a campaign speech on Sunday.

He specifically stated that “we’re going to take it away from the mayor,” who has seen a 29% increase in homicides over the past year if Trump wins in November.

“That doesn’t make me popular there, but I have to say it,” he said of the city where Bowser won with 74 percent of the vote in the last mayoral election in 2022.

‘We have to run our capital incredibly. We need to remove the graffiti from those beautiful marble columns all over the city that have swastikas printed on them, that have the names of people with hearts written on them,” Trump added about the anti-Israel protest.

He added that diplomats and ambassadors should look down on Washington on every visit.

‘We are going to clean up our capital, we are going to destroy the slums. We have slums. We will have the most beautiful capital in the world.’

Much of Washington’s governance at the city level is overseen by Congress, despite the 1973 Home Rule Act, which gave DC some independence.

Any laws passed by the city’s 13-member council can be rejected by Congress, although the president cannot rule personally.

Rising crime and homelessness in the nation’s capital have residents in turmoil, with locals having to travel short distances to avoid walking the dangerous streets and others now too scared to walk even during the day. to go outside.

Murders and robberies are up 29 and 67 percent from the same period last year, with the homicide rate approaching levels not seen in two decades – while other major cities such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Baltimore see a decline.

Neighboring Baltimore could end the year with fewer than 300 homicides for the first time since the riots over the death of Freddie Gray in police custody in 2015.

Yet a 58-year-old lobbyist in Washington DC said The Washington Post that he stopped walking in his neighborhood after he and his husband were attacked near Dupont Circle, and then had a bottle thrown at them outside Whole Foods. The couple left town last month after 30 years and moved to Maryland.

“I always thought in the past that I could outrun any criminal,” he said. ‘I can not anymore. I’m a sitting duck.’

The city has also not been immune to the angry left-wing anti-Israel protests of recent months.

Angry pro-Palestinian protesters scaled the White House fence and chanted “f*** Joe Biden” as thousands descended on Washington DC in November to demonstrate against the US government’s support for Israel.

More than 100,000 people flocked to the country’s capital as a day of pro-Palestinian protests broke out around the world, resulting in several disturbing anti-Semitic incidents.

According to footage, graffiti reading “death to Israel” and “glory to our martyrs” was sprayed on buildings near the Israeli embassy shared by the embassy on X.

The protests included a controversial chant: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” as a Hezbollah flag flew among the crowds in a show of support for the terrorist organization.

The massive gathering is the latest demonstration against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which has killed more than 9,250 people so far, according to the Health Ministry.

Protesters stretched a banner over the White House fence reading “Stop the Attacks on Gaza,” prompting the Secret Service to take down the sign, sparking anger among the crowd.

Chants of ‘Allahu akbar’ rang out loudly as the protest marched through the city as red handprints were later left on the walls near the presidential residence.

Before reaching the White House, a huge crowd of protesters filled the streets of DC on a route that passed numerous landmarks near the Capitol.

Footage after the protesters moved through showed a number of historic scenes, including the desecration of the statue of American Revolutionary War hero General Marquis de Lafayette with graffiti and Palestinian flags.

“Biden, we will remember in November,” one of the signs on the statue read.

Other notable images that angered protesters included Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Jackson.