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.
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 Thompson, 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.”
At the same time, Thompson cautioned, it’s still too soon to say how much of the dip is directly tied to Trump’s policy, since the mobilization of federal forces only began in earnest midweek.
Ariel Pereira, a server at Osteria Al Volo, an Italian restaurant in D.C., told Fortune he has “absolutely” seen a decline in diners. He estimated only 40% of the dining room is being sat, when usually the restaurant is at full capacity.
However, he wasn’t sure if he should attribute that to the recent takeover, or because of children going back to school.
Reservations also fell over the past two weeks in the neighboring city of Baltimore, according to the OpenTable data. However, the decline is distinctly less steep: Reservations fell by less than 10% every day except Aug. 17, which showed a decline of 19%.
Trump, meanwhile, painted a different picture. On Monday, sitting next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president told reporters he thinks restaurants are more crowded than they’ve been in a long time.
“The press says, ‘He’s a dictator, he’s trying to take over.’ No, all I want is security for our people,” Trump said. “But people who haven’t gone out to dinner in Washington, D.C., in two years are going out to dinner, and the restaurants the last two days were busier than they’ve been in a long time.”
Cheryl Watson, another group member, concurred, adding “the kids are out of hand.”
“This is police state territory, banana republic police state territory,” she said.
