This episode goes straight at a messy, important question: who actually controls the National Guard—and what does DC’s deployment really mean? Host Bob Phipps and panelists Joseph Bishop, Jeff Nolan, Eddie Clark, and Larry Haber debate whether the Guard’s presence is public safety, political theater, or a new model of law and order.
In this episode:
1. Who has authority over the National Guard, and how that differs in Washington, DC
2. Are deployments targeting real crime—or creating optics in tourist zones?
3. Public safety vs. performative politics: can both be true at once?
4. Short-term drops in crime vs. long-term displacement
5. Cash bail, class bias, and why more arrests can mean more inequity
6. States’ rights, federal power, and why DC is a special case
7. What success would even look like—and what happens when the Guard leaves?
Join the conversation:
1. Should the National Guard be used for local public safety in DC?
2. Is this approach effective, or just optics that shift crime elsewhere?
3. How do we reduce crime without expanding inequity and incarceration?
Share your thoughts below—disagreeing respectfully is the Third Side way.
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