Elon Musk appears to be greatly exaggerating about the extent of the attack on former DOGE staffer Edward Coristine, aka “Big Balls,” who was jumped in Washington, D.C., earlier this week.
The billionaire claimed that Coristine heroically stopped “a gang of about a dozen young men” from assaulting a woman in her car at night.” He said that Coristine ran over to defend the woman and saved her in spite of being “severely beaten to the point of concussion.” Musk ended his retelling by calling for the federal government to take control of D.C.
Trump used the attack on Big Balls to echo the same inaccurate, made-for-Fox News sentiments, calling for the federal takeover of D.C. and the mass criminalization of mostly working class Black and Latino children.
“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control. Local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens … The Law in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these ‘minors’ as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social. “Washington, D.C., must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the World to see. If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore. Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City.”
Neither of these highly dramatized accounts aligns with the Metropolitan Police Department’s report. As Trump and Musk claimed a brutal assault involving a gang of men, the MPD reported an unarmed carjacking, with only two 15-year-old suspects detained, a girl and a boy.
Fearmongering and hyperbole are common tactics for Trump and other conservatives, especially around events like these. But Washington, D.C.’s unique non-state status has emboldened the president, as he has hinted at taking over the city countless times before. Everyone deserves to feel safe in the city they live in, but Big Balls getting mugged is not a valid excuse to start rounding up kids and revoking the little autonomy the city has.