When President Donald Trump describes his plans to deploy the National Guard to Memphis as a “replica” of what he’s done with federal troops in Washington, D.C., he’s attempting to make two points: first, that it’s appropriate for him to deploy the military in American cities at all, and second, that doing so effectively reduces crime in cities that just happen to be run and disproportionately populated by his perceived political foes. But the vision he has laid out to “make Memphis safe again” is familiar in another key way: It looks a lot like the crime-fighting strategy the city tried just a few years ago—one that ultimately failed.

The president signed an executive memorandum on September 15 directing federal agents to combat street crime in Memphis through “hypervigilant policing,” “

See Full Page