Trump’s Whirlwind Week: Peace Talks, D.C. Cleanup, and a CBO Win
By Roger KimballA week ago, I was writing about Donald Trump’s summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska to talk about ending Russia’s war with Ukraine. A few days before that, I wrote about the Trump administration’s announcement that it would conduct a thorough “internal review” of the Smithsonian Institution and its vast network of museums, research centers, and related activities. It turns out that when Trump ordered the elimination of DEI initiatives, he meant it. In recent years, the Smithsonian has gradually morphed from an institution for the “increase & diffusion of knowledge among men” into a woke repository of progressive, anti-American shibboleths. Among other things, the colonoscopy-like review will counter the pervasive assumption that the history of the United States is tantamount to a history of oppression.
Last Monday, Trump quickly made good on his promise in Alaska to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, when he assembled the heads of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the European Union, and NATO at the White House to talk with Zelensky. It was an extraordinary event. Alas, “intransigence” seems to be Putin’s—or is it Zelensky’s?—middle name, so peace in that deadly conflict (total casualties have topped one million) continues to be elusive, despite Trump’s heroic efforts.
That disappointment has not stymied Trump. Instead, he took his peace agenda to Washington, D.C., putting the city under federal control—it had withered under home rule since 1973—and calling in the National Guard to help the Metropolitan Police reestablish order, aesthetic as well as legal. Homeless encampments were disassembled, grass is being replanted, and the law is being enforced. The results were nearly instantaneous. CNN put it this way: “Trump’s DC takeover produces moderate drop in crime—and huge spike in immigration arrests.”
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https://amgreatness.com/2025/08/24/trumps-whirlwind-week-peace-talks-d-c-cleanup-and-a-cbo-win/
