President Donald Trump has expanded his law-enforcement crackdown in Washington, D.C., with top officials visiting National Guard troops at the city's main railroad station.

Vance dismissed the protest, saying Washington doesn't need to be freed from protesters, but from lawlessness. "I think you hear these guys out here screaming at us. A bunch of crazy protesters.

The VP dismissed the demonstrators as ‘old, primarily white people’ who have ‘never felt danger in their entire lives.’

In the early summer of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Washington in raucous protests against the police killing of George Floyd. In the late summer of 2025,

An activist group called Refuse Fascism led the demonstrators as they marched down Connecticut Avenue to the National Mall, filling the road and blocking traffic. Many were wearing bright orange bandannas and holding signs with slogans, including “Trump Must Go Now” and “No ICE! No National Guard!”

The protest comes as West Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio announced they would deploy hundreds of additional National Guard troops to the nation's capital.