What’s really going on in D.C.? What you see depends on who’s filming.
Story by Brittany Shammas, Ellie Silverman, Joy Sung
In the two weeks since President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency in D.C., ordered a federal takeover of the police force and sent in the National Guard, the internet has been awash with footage taken on city streets.
The videos tend to fall into one of three categories.
The White House and federal agencies, through their social media accounts, have posted stylized videos of law enforcement officers in tactical gear looking tough, with rousing music or speeches from administration officials about what they cast as the sorry state of the District playing in the background.
Many residents and visitors, seeking to defend the District against the president branding it a “dirty, crime-ridden death trap,” have used his words as a soundtrack for social media reels that show picturesque shots of cherry blossoms, street festivals and storied institutions.
And people passing by scenes of arrests have captured and shared sometimes-shaky cellphone footage of agents taking people into custody — in some instances with force.
The result is a series of competing narratives of D.C. that are influencing how people across the country perceive the moment.
In a Washington Post examination of dozens of videos, this much became clear: In the battle over D.C.’s image, what you see depends on who’s behind the camera.
What the White House has shared
As a blaring, siren-like song plays in the background, the video cuts quickly from one shot to the next: a D.C. police SUV zooming down a dark street, its lights flashing; helmeted, gun-toting U.S. marshals entering an apartment complex and banging on the door; handcuffs tightening around a man’s wrists. The footage appeared on the White House’s X page on Aug. 14 under the caption “Nighttime Routine: Operation Make D.C. Safe Again Edition,” and racked up 2.4 million views.
The stylized video includes text saying it was filmed at 11:09 p.m. in a Northwest Washington neighborhood, one known more for high rent prices than high crime stats. Footage came from the arrest of Sean Charles Dunn, the now-former Justice Department employee who authorities say was the man captured on video lobbing a Subway sandwich at a federal officer, and was filmed by a social media team sent by the White House to accompany the agents, Reuters reported. The White House did not respond to questions from The Post about the video, whose arrest it showed or how and why it was made.
Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said the White House and agencies across the administration “are highlighting the successes of President Trump’s bold action to crack down on violent crime in our nation’s capital.”
“The administration is meeting people where they are — on social media — to communicate the President’s efforts to Make DC Safe and Beautiful Again,” she said.
It was one of a series of sleek videos the administration and federal agencies have produced amid the president’s ordered takeover of policing in D.C., some using Washington landmarks as a backdrop.
A video shared on X by Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows agents lining up for a photo in front of an anti-deportation banner — then tearing it down. “We’re taking America back, baby,” a masked agent tells the camera. The White House rapid-response team posted an ICE recruitment video on X showing a custom Ford Raptor pickup and GMC Yukon SUV with the ICE logo driving around Washington to the rap song “TOES” by DaBaby.
And on its newly minted TikTok account, the White House on Thursday posted glossy footage of Vice President JD Vance and other officials strolling through Union Station and shaking the hands of uniformed National Guard troops deployed in the capital.
“To the American people, D.C. is already safer than it was nine days ago, but we’re going to make it safer still to come,” Vance says in a voice-over overlaid with triumphant music. The video didn’t include jeering from a group of protesters at the station. Videos taken by others at the station captured those.
Passersby have noted the presence of cameras among the military and police forces the president has deployed on city streets, with one TikTok user calling it a “photo opp.” A piece in the Bulwark, a conservative anti-Trump news site, argued that the president “isn’t acting like a politician so much as a film producer” during his takeover of D.C. law enforcement.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said videos shared by the agency were taken by videographers and staff using cellphones, but did not respond to further questions.
One employee on a video team within a federal agency described being unwittingly pulled into the operation. Speaking on the condition of anonymity out of job reprisal concerns, the employee said their team once covered events and produced content to be used internally, but has now been told to be ready to join agents doing law enforcement work. The direction was to hit the streets with agents and get footage of what they’re doing. And then turn it around — quickly.
The employee spoke of feeling uncomfortable with the new marching orders and hoped the administration would soon lose interest in D.C. policing.
“This is all just a show,” the employee said. “This is theater.”
What people have shared in defense of D.C.
Flashes of candy-colored sunsets pop onto the screen. Next come scenes of cherry blossom branches swaying over the Tidal Basin, a man blasting a trumpet on a street corner, the whiz of a clean Metro and a little girl unfurling her kite on the National Mall. People cheer for the Washington Capitals, for the Nationals’ bigheaded mascot and for the weekly drum circle in a park.
As the idyllic clips loop on Instagram and TikTok, a recording of Trump’s voice plays, describing a nightmarish Washington full of crime.
“Our capital is the opposite of tippy top,” Trump can be heard saying in the accompanying audio. “It’s a shithouse.”
Video posted on Instagram
This visual contrast showing Washington at its best and Trump demeaning it as a death trap has become a trend, a way for those who oppose the president’s rhetoric to push back against his words.
To them, it’s a fact check and a protest. They describe their videos as love letters to D.C.
The soundtrack to these videos is specific, combining the instrumental version of Billie Eilish’s well-known ballad from the “Barbie” soundtrack, “What Was I Made For?” with one of Trump’s speeches deriding the city. The same audio has been used in more than 1,000 TikToks from current and former residents, college students and visitors, like Jonathan Van Ness of “Queer Eye” who was recently in Washington filming an upcoming season of the show.
Mia Svirsky, who lived in the District for a decade before moving last year to a nearby Virginia suburb, said she felt a responsibility to say something after Trump announced the federal takeover of D.C. police. Her District Eats Instagram account has more than 80,000 followers and she wanted her digital community to know how strongly she disagreed with how the president was portraying the city.
“I heard that audio, and I was just like, he’s wrong,” Svirsky said “I can show you how beautiful D.C. is.”
So Svirsky, 29, pulled together videos on her phone, showing American flags waving in the breeze, neighbors dancing in the street, fireworks over Nationals Park, a tiki boat on the Potomac River, snow-covered streets and a stoop decorated with pumpkins.
“Dear Washington DC,” she wrote in captions on Instagram and TikTok. “I love you. Thank you for welcoming me with open arms over 10 years ago. This city is special. The people are special. The food is special. This city helped me grow, explore, learn, adventure, love, eat and so much more.”
The posts had, as of Saturday morning, a combined 94,500 likes and more than 2.3 million views.
Video posted on TikTok
Caroline Le, 25, of Georgetown, said she doesn’t want outsiders to take Trump’s words at face value and become fearful of the city that has given her friends and community.
In the video Le posted, she included acrobats performing at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the opening of Bar Angie in the West End and her Pomeranian, Mickey Mouse, running toward her in Volta Park.
“This,” she said, “is the D.C. I know.”
What the public is capturing in the streets
The videos are not just a tool in a fight over how the city is perceived. People who spot federal agents are taking out their cellphones, pointing them toward the agents and hitting record — capturing law enforcement checkpoints, arrests and patrols in raw, shaky and spontaneous footage.
Video by a bystander
Tyler DeSue was tracking his Uber Eats delivery on his phone when he noticed the driver icon stopped moving a few blocks from his home. He went outside, saw police lights and worried his driver had gotten into an accident.
As he walked closer, he saw a moped driver in a collared shirt surrounded by agents with Homeland Security Investigations. As an agent arrested the man, DeSue began recording while yelling, “He doesn’t understand what you’re saying!” and “Just use Google translate on your phone, it takes two seconds.”
DeSue, 25, of Shaw, said he overhead the agents tell the man they had pulled him over for “incorrect tags” on his moped. They later said that was a mistake and instead began asking about his immigration status.
A spokesperson for DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the man was arrested or where he was taken.
DeSue posted the video of the Aug. 16 arrest outside Cleveland Elementary School in Northwest Washington to Instagram and TikTok, where, as of Saturday morning, it had received more than 1 million views.
Other videos show a checkpoint with more than 20 law enforcement officers near the intersection of 14th and W streets NW, residents shouting down ICE agents near the Columbia Heights Metro and officers tackling a moped driver outside a Northwest Washington coffee shop.
They’re shared widely — amplified by residents, journalists and popular accounts like Washingtonian Problems — as the people on camera warn residents of federal agents in their neighborhoods.
“People need to see what’s going on,” DeSue said. “This is literally what’s happening.”
Derek Hawkins contributed to this report.
ChristopherBlackwell
As expected! Everyone knows that there are areas in D.C. where it is dangerous
Just like in LA, trump's pinhead are creating problems and using them to find illegals. NO other reason!
I'm not opposed to deporting those who don't belong here, but I AM opposed to sanctioned violence and violating both the law and people's civil rights to do so!
Anyone who supports this kind of behavior must also support fascism because THAT is what it is!
bulldozed and paved over the WH Rose Garden I can no longer read any news coming out of Washington. I've been driven crazy enough! I took a needed break from the madness.
And yes, the story that is told depends on the story teller and what they want the public to hear/think. Be the change. . .
Re: Ever since Trump
Posted by Christopher Blackwell on August 24, 2025, 10:28 pm, in reply to "Ever since Trump"
Dancing Digits, indeed each group telling the part of the story important to them, but none telling and considering the other parts as important or true, just the part that they want you to believe.ChristopherBlackwell
Yeah, I get that. I had to stop watching the news shows because I was getting too upset and worried
Posted by Sia on August 24, 2025, 9:55 pm, in reply to "Ever since Trump" ADMIN
It had such a negative affect on me that I withdrew from my normal attention to news.
I force myself to stay informed about the truly dangerous crap Trump pulls but try to avoid everything else, even though it is all important.
Good to see you again! I hope you are well?
My poor husband would just get in the front door after work,
Like any good soap opera, you can miss a month, drop in and within minutes be brought up to speed on everything that's happened. You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony
Glad you are doing good. I've been better, but working on finding my
on August 24, 2025, 7:19 pm
