President Trump’s deployment of federal forces threatens Democrats’ municipal monopolies on political power. This is why they so strenuously object to federal assistance in cities’ law enforcement. Without overwhelming city vote totals, Democrats’ political control in states across America would collapse. 

President Trump has repeatedly injected federal resources into city law enforcement – Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Memphis, and now Portland and Chicago – where he has deemed crime to be out of local authorities’ ability or will to control it. At each intervention, national Democrat leaders have loudly protested – even in Washington, where Mayor Bowser acknowledged crime was down.

Apart from playing to their national base, Democrats’ protests rest on the reality that their power depends on maintaining their monopoly grip on cities’ huge vote totals. Of America’s top 20 cities, Democrats control 18; of the top 40, Democrats control 32; of the top 100, Democrats control 66. Notably, America’s 33^rd largest city, Fresno, California, is the largest to have a Republican mayor in a Blue state. 

For Democrats, control of cities’ huge populations means control of the states in which these are located. As examples: New York City makes up 44.3% of New York state’s population; Chicago is 21.6% of Illinois’ population; Albuquerque is 26.5% of New Mexico’s; Portland is 15.3% of Oregon’s. And these are just single-city examples; in some states, control of several big cities (e.g., Minneapolis and St. Paul are 12.8% of Minnesota’s population; Denver and Colorado Springs are 20% of Colorado’s population) make for similarly overwhelming percentages.