Washington restaurants are becoming unexpected collateral damage in President Donald Trump’s D.C. police takeover, with reservation data showing a sharp decline in diners since the president federalized the city’s police force.
Restaurant reservations in D.C. plummeted last week, dropping 16% on Monday—the day he invoked the D.C. Home Rule Act—27% on Tuesday, and 31% on Wednesday compared with the same days in 2024, according to OpenTable. WUSA, a local television station, was the first to report on the news.
Washington, D.C., is one of very few American cities to see a drop in August dining reservations compared to last year, according to OpenTable. Prior to Trump’s police takeover, D.C. had improved in reservation numbers for 11 consecutive months on a year-over-year basis, according to WUSA.
That makes this August all the more striking. August is typically the slowest month of the year for restaurants in Washington, as Congress recesses and families head out on last-minute vacations.
“There’s always been this expectation that reservations drop in August,” said Shawn Townsend, the president and CEO of Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, who noted that college move-ins and family travel are major seasonal factors. “But the added visibility of federal agents and troops on the streets can’t be ignored—it’s contributing to the downturn.”
