Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, DC to stem what he said was a rising tide of crime sweeping across the nation’s capital.
But since they were mobilised in early August, the military officers have increasingly been waging war on unkempt flower beds and litter-strewn parks.
Sceptical commentators have noted that the members of a lethal fighting force trained to tackle everything from foreign wars to natural disasters, are being used as the “most expensive gardening team in history”.
On Thursday, around two dozen troops could be seen depositing mulch in wheelbarrows and raking it around the base of the trees at McPherson Square park, a short distance from the White House.
All the while several homeless people, whom the Trump administration has pledged to force out of Washington, continued to slumber uninterrupted on the nearby benches.
Members of the National Guard pose for photos with tourists neat the Washington Monument – Kayla Bartkowski/2025 Getty Images
Locals were politely baffled when they came upon the sight of soldiers in camouflage gear who had swapped their rifles for gardening tools.
“The might of the military,” one man in a restaurant commented drily to The Telegraph, laughing and shaking his head. “I feel bad for them.”
The National Guard does not have the power to arrest anyone, although they can briefly detain people. They carry guns that they cannot use, except in self-defence.
And although the Trump administration has stressed that their visible presence will deter crime by itself, they have on at least one occasion failed to prevent a crime occurring right under their noses.
When JD Vance visited National Guard members stationed at Washington, DC’s Union Station last month the marble hall of the city’s main travel hub was jammed full of federal troops and agents, who kept hostile protesters at a safe distance from the vice-president.
Credit: X / @DeptofDefense
Taking questions from reporters at a nearby Shake Shack, the vice-president said the station’s crime rate was “extremely high”, claiming the deployment was needed to take on drug addicts and “vagrants” and restore public safety.
While covering the outing for a local TV news channel, journalist Leah Vredenbregt realised that her wallet had gone missing.
“It took a lot of crying and convincing with officers to let me check with the cashiers inside to see if anyone turned it in,” she said. “They hadn’t.”
A short time later, she received a notification on her phone – her debit card had been declined at a liquor store roughly a mile away, where someone had tried to buy $55 worth of alcohol.
As the Pentagon’s top brass pledge to revive the army’s “warrior ethos” and “lethality”, the White House says the Guard is now actively participating “in the beautification process” of Washington, DC.
“Inside the soul of each unwitting service member is a warfighter who grows more lethal with every cigarette butt lifted from the mean streets of the National Mall,” a Military Times writer commented, sarcastically.
Troops begin ‘beautification’ efforts by collecting bags of rubbish
Mr Trump has spoken enthusiastically about his plans to revive Washington, claiming its image has steadily declined in recent decades.
Claiming to know “more about grass than any human being… anywhere in the world” as the owner of several golf courses, the president announced plans to “re-grass” its parks on a recent visit to Anacostia in south east Washington.
“Grass has a life,” he added. “We have a life and grass has a life. And the grass here died about 40 years ago.”
The task of bringing Mr Trump’s landscaping vision to life has now seemingly fallen to the National Guard.
Critics note the National Guard has taken up a permanent presence around the city’s tourist traps, rather than areas where crime is higher and they could theoretically serve as a deterrent – although the White House has pushed back on the characterisation.
National Guard walk around the Washington monument – Jose Luis Magana
In the early days of their deployment, they set up a checkpoint on the buzzy 14th Street, much to the chagrin of business owners who saw footfall plummet on what is normally a busy thoroughfare.
Khalid Pitts, who co-owns the Cork Wine Bar on the street’s “restaurant row”, said customers found the presence of troops “intimidating”.
“Hospitality is about welcoming people, and it’s hard for me to welcome people into my doors when you have concerns about going outside of your door,” he said, saying bookings were down 22 per cent on normal August bookings.
Now, those members of the National Guard who have been spared gardening duty appear to be concentrated around Washington DC’s monuments, some of the busier Metro stops, and Union Station.
Soldiers walk through the National Mall… – Andrew Leyden/2025 Getty Images
Protesters have taken up a permanent presence outside the station to decry what they call a fascist takeover.
“F— these f—ing fascists – they can kiss our a–es,” shouted one, twirling a flag near a sign urging members of the military not to comply with Mr Trump’s orders.
“I think it’s almost like desensitising people to the idea of having humvees in the street,” said Andy Shallal, a former DC mayoral candidate, referring to a military truck that had been parked outside the main train station.
Mr Shallal, founder of the restaurant chain Busboys and Poets, added: “It just feels really eerie.”
As for the National Guard, those relieved of “beautification” orders appeared bored walking laps around the station while swigging Monster energy drinks.
At one point, a band of demonstrators near a statue of Christopher Columbus struck up a discordant rendition of Bella Ciao, a song about the Italian partisans who fought against Nazi occupation. Four guardsmen walked past, one of them nonchalantly swinging a water bottle, ignored them and continued on.
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