Fox News host Jessica Tarlov is calling out Republicans for what she sees as a politically motivated and wasteful approach to crime in Washington, D.C.
“Republicans took $1 billion from D.C.’s budget. Now, they are spending taxpayer dollars on having the National Guard walking around Georgetown’s Sephora,” Fox News host Jessica Tarlov wrote in a post on X.
“We can recognize there’s an issue with crime, while also not wasting money and Trump consolidating power over faux emergencies.”
During a recent episode of The Five, Tarlov pointed to the presence of the National Guard patrolling areas like Georgetown and even outside retail stores.
“You can point out the fact that you have members of the National Guard walking on the mall and around Georgetown guarding Sephora, and that’s an absurd use of tax dollars,” she said.
Tarlov made it clear she recognizes that D.C. has crime issues. “If you just say there’s no problem at all, you’re gonna be on the wrong side of it,” she said.
But she emphasized that overreactions and misplaced funding won’t solve the problem.
D.C. budget cuts and misplaced priorities
Tarlov criticized Republicans for slashing $1 billion from the city’s budget, noting the funds were supposed to support police salaries and school programs.
“You took a billion dollars from the D.C. budget, money that was gonna go to police salaries and school programs,” she said, adding, “Kids don’t commit crimes if they’re actually in school. That’s a good thing.”
She said that taking away education and public safety funding and then spending public money on performative deployments was contradictory and ineffective: “Give us back our money.”
Trump’s role and “faux emergencies”
She expanded on that point on-air, expressing concern about what she described as President Donald Trump’s broader effort to centralize authority.
“Taking over the D.C. police, like what he did in Los Angeles as well, is part of this massive consolidation of power that Donald Trump has been undertaking,” she said.
Tarlov said Trump had talked about declaring crime a national emergency to justify ongoing federal intervention.
“He even said today… or yesterday. It is an emergency. It is not. He said at first, I have 30 days. And then he said, well, I can make it a national emergency. And then it would be forever. I could do it. I don’t know if I will.”
She also cited examples like redistricting mid-cycle, targeting universities and law firms, and replacing officials with loyalists as part of the same power play.
“He puts in a guy who goes to January 6th, who’s going to do what he wants. And maybe we won’t have a job report.”
Criticism of Mayor Bowser
Tarlov also criticized D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, saying she has been too accommodating to Trump.
“She immediately took up Black Lives Matter Plaza when he came back into office. Why didn’t he say, ‘I’m thinking about doing this. Mayor Bowser, how can we work together?”
Tarlov said Bowser was out of town for a short time due to a family issue and warned not to turn that into a political talking point.
She summed it up by saying Republicans are using crime as an excuse to grab more power and put on a show, instead of backing real fixes like better schools and public safety funding.