MaddowBlog-Why National Guard troops are now picking up trash in D.C.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Why has the Trump administration assigned troops to garbage duty in the nation’s capital? The closer one looks at the answer, the worse it appears.

As the Trump administration has National Guard troops picking up trash in DC, consider
- why they’re picking up the slack for laid off Park Service employees
- how this contradicts Hegseth’s “warrior ethos”
- and what the reaction would be if a Dem did the same thing www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-08-27T18:05:24.557Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/national-guard-troops-are-now-picking-trash-dc-rcna227554

When Donald Trump militarized the nation’s capital, the president didn’t just tout discredited and pretextual concerns about crime. The Republican also committed to what he described as a new “beautification” initiative in Washington, D.C.

To that end, locals are suddenly seeing something unexpected and unusual: National Guard troops on trash duty. The local NBC affiliate reported:

Members of the National Guard deployed to D.C. will pick up trash and work on dozens of ‘beautification and restoration’ projects, the military task force overseeing all troops in the District said Monday. ... Officials said the effort is part of a broader ‘beautification’ operation aimed at community restoration and improvement and that members will complete more than 40 tasks at sites around the District.

The report added that task force officials “wouldn’t offer details about how often troops have been asked to clean up areas in D.C.”

National Guard is now tasked with picking up garbage in DC

— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress.onestnetwork.com) 2025-08-26T22:22:56.505Z

.....Instead, let’s consider a different line of questioning: Isn’t the Park Service usually responsible for this? The Washington Post reported on the answer:

Typically, custodial work like this falls to the National Park Service, which was already facing staffing shortfalls when the Trump administration this spring directed additional cuts as it gutted the federal workforce. The service used to have 200 people assigned to maintain thousands of acres of trees and gardens in D.C., and now there are 20, a Park Service official told The Post.

Ah. So, the National Park Service used to have all kinds of employees, including groundskeepers, but the Trump administration laid them off......

The Post’s report added, “Representatives for Hegseth did not address questions about the new beautification assignment, or whether it was in line with the secretary’s lethality push.”

Imagine that.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Taxpayers are being fleeced for this!

Most expensive garbo's ever!

[usonian]

2. What kinds of trash? Inquiring minds want to know. Was it ...

And how was it removed?

[bluedigger]

3. It's called Police Call.

Anybody who ever got caught by the First Sergeant doing nothing knows about it.

[Norrrm]

4. Hegseth's "warrior ethos"

Picking up garbage... what a waste of training and manpower.

[Hekate]

5. I guess the soldiers are policing the grounds, right?

[Traildogbob]

6. The trash

Is in the White House, senate and Congress. The pentagon, the Supreme Court and DOJ. It will take the entire military force to drag it all out. It will require a new landfill. Toxic protected

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. trump is stiffing and cheating our national guard personnel

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. The Battle of DC

The perfect gift for the holidays