Online reservations dropped more than 25% in the days following President Trump’s announcement that he was federalizing DC Police, according to OpenTable data.
WASHINGTON — D.C. restaurants saw a more than 25% drop in diners in the days following President Donald Trump’s takeover of the city’s police department, according to a WUSA9 analysis of reservation numbers.
On Monday, the day Trump announced he would invoke the D.C. Home Rule Act and federalize the city’s police department for the first time in history, online reservations in the District dropped by 16% compared to the same date in 2024, according to data from OpenTable. On Tuesday, as the National Guard began being mobilized in the District, reservations were 27% below their 2024 levels. On Wednesday they were down 31%.
Prior to this month, D.C.’s restaurant industry – one of the worst hit in the country by pandemic shutdowns – had seen 11 consecutive months of year-over-year improvement in reservation numbers. As of Sunday, the city stands nearly alone among the largest 20 U.S. cities tracked by OpenTable in having a drop in August dining reservations compared to last year. Only Las Vegas, which has seen its own economy buffeted by Trump’s immigration and trade policies, has seen fewer diners this month than August 2024.
The timing couldn’t be worse for D.C.’s restaurants, hundreds of which are preparing for Summer Restaurant Week to begin Monday. The annual event offers diners $25 and $35 brunch and lunch menus at more than 350 restaurants in the city.
Trump announced the takeover of D.C.’s police on Monday to address what he described as “rising crime” – although MPD and FBI data show violent crime have declined to 30-year lows in the city. In April, then interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin Jr. credited Trump’s first 100 days in office with a 25% drop in violent crime in the city.
The administration has credited the surge in law enforcement with hundreds of arrests in the city since Monday as agents from the FBI and DEA have joined ICE, Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations officers in patrolling D.C. streets. On Saturday, governments from three Republican states – Ohio, West Virginia and South Carolina – announced they would deploy National Guard units to the District to provide “mission-essential equipment” and training. Guard members, who do not have arrest authority, have been stationed at Union Station and elsewhere around the city since Tuesday.