I have been living in Washington, D.C. for almost twenty years. What I saw this week didn’t look like the city I know.
Flashing lights. Tactical vests. Federal police and national troops in quiet Georgetown. It didn’t feel like Washington—it felt like a movie set.
But this wasn’t fiction.
In recent days, national troops have been deployed across Washington, D.C., under direct orders from Donald Trump. His explanation? Rising crime.
The reality? Crime in the capital has dropped by double digits. The city is safer than it has been in months.
So what’s really happening?
You don’t flood peaceful streets with federal forces to stop a threat.You do it to send a message.
And that message is crystal clear to anyone who’s studied authoritarian systems:
“I will not give up power again. And this time, I’ll be ready.”
If you’re planning to stay in power beyond your constitutional term, what’s the first place you secure?
The capital.
This isn’t about public safety. This is political staging.
Many still treat Trump as if he’s a rogue actor—erratic, unserious, impulsive.
They’re wrong.
He’s calculating. Strategic. Focused on the long game.
And he’s laying the groundwork now.
During a recent visit with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Trump showcased a hat emblazoned with “Trump 2028.” His online store is already selling the merch.
He even said, with no hint of irony, that Americans want him to serve a third term.
Federal police in D.C. are just one early move. Behind the scenes, Trump is:
Purging career civil servants and replacing them with loyalists.
Openly discussing the politicization of the DOJ and FBI.
Pushing legal theories that would grant presidents total criminal immunity.
Laying the legal and logistical groundwork to use force where the law doesn’t agree.
This is what makes 2028 different.
In 2020, Trump attempted to remain in power but ultimately failed. But the system barely held—and now, he’s learning. Adapting. Upgrading.
If 2020 was an improvisation, 2028 will be a production.
The Constitution says no third term.
But authoritarian leaders don’t think in terms of terms. They think in terms of exits.
And Trump has no viable exit.
He’s already exposed himself legally—stretching executive authority, politicizing federal agencies, and monetizing influence.
In the past six months alone, his actions have triggered a wave of legal risks.
Losing power wouldn’t just expose him. It would expose his entire family.
This is the dictator’s paradox: the deeper they go, the smaller the circle of trust becomes—often reduced to family.
They entangle those closest to them in the machinery of power, dragging them into the dirt.
And once everyone is compromised, no one can afford to walk away. Losing power doesn’t just end a presidency—it threatens the entire inner circle.
It’s not politics anymore.It’s survival.
And that’s exactly why he won’t walk away willingly.
No strongman ever does.
We like to believe that America’s institutions are self-healing.
They aren’t.
Laws don’t enforce themselves. Norms don’t defend themselves. The presence of federal troops on quiet D.C. streets isn’t a coincidence—it’s a symptom of something deeper.
Institutions are only as strong as the people running them.
Right now, many are complicit. Others are afraid. Too many are simply looking away.
While they hesitate, Trump advances.
Trump failed to keep power in 2020. He’s working to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
And if we continue treating this as just another political cycle, it won’t be just the next election we lose.
We risk losing the entire system that once gave elections meaning.
I saw this happen in Turkey—slowly at first, then all at once.
I'm witnessing the same story again.
This time, in the United States.