Fair warning, dearest reader: This article discusses domestic violence and may be distressing to some readers. If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, resources are available, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
President Donald Trump has hit plenty of lows, but brushing off domestic violence at the Museum of the Bible may be a new entry in the hall of shame.
Speaking at the Washington D.C. venue, Trump managed to turn a solemn issue into another round of dismissive soundbites—downplaying the national crisis of intimate partner violence as if it were just another one of his overhyped headlines.
Trump has been fixated on crime numbers in the capital since the federal government took over D.C. law enforcement in August.
At a press conference last week, he leaned into his favorite trick—turning complex data into statistical fan fiction:
“Washington, DC, is a totally safe city. You’re not reporting any crime because there is none… They said crime is down 87 percent, and I said, ‘No, it’s not. It’s down 100 percent.’”
But the math ain’t mathin'. Police data showed a 21 percent decline in crime over the past 21 days—not the miraculous “100 percent” Trump crowed about. In that same stretch, four homicides were reported along with multiple shootings, grim reminders that crime stats can’t just be erased with all-caps slogans like DC IS NOW A CRIME-FREE ZONE.
And beyond the numbers, other indicators—like dwindling tourism and empty restaurant tables—suggest fewer people are even venturing out in the first place. But Trump wasn’t content with just cooking the books; he went lower, dismissing domestic violence as something that shouldn’t even count as a crime at all.
At the Museum of the Bible, he said:
“They said, ‘Crime’s down 87 percent.’ I said, No, no, no — it’s more than 87 percent, virtually nothing. And much lesser things, things that take place in the home, they call crime. You know, they’ll do anything they can to find something…”
That “something?” Domestic violence.
And Trump had to triple down:
“If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime. See? So now I can’t claim 100 percent, but we are. We are a safe city.”
A “little fight with the wife.” That’s how the president of the United States chose to describe what the CDC has identified as a national public health crisis. Nearly 40 percent of women and one in four men in America experience violence, sexual assault, or stalking from an intimate partner. Domestic violence homicides account for nearly half of all murders of women in the U.S.
So, Trump’s words didn’t just minimize abuse; he trivialized it. And in doing so, he dismissed every survivor who has lived through it.
You can view his remarks below:
And they landed with extra sting because Trump himself has a long history of accusations of sexual violence, abuse, and harassment. From E. Jean Carroll—who won a civil case against him in 2023—to multiple women who accused him of assault, the pattern is familiar.
In 2016, The New Yorker reported on testimony from Trump’s divorce with his first wife, Ivana.
Journalist Harry Hurt documented the disturbing account from the 1990 divorce deposition:
“Trump was furious that a 'scalp reduction' operation he’d undergone to eliminate a bald spot had been unexpectedly painful. Ivana had recommended the plastic surgeon. In retaliation, Hurt wrote, Trump yanked out a handful of his wife’s hair, and then forced himself on her sexually… in the morning, Trump asked her, with menacing casualness, ‘Does it hurt?’”
Ivana later softened her language, but the incident was confirmed by two of her friends. Trump, of course, denied it—just as he has denied every allegation of rape and assault. And the White House did what it always does: brushed it off, spinning survivors’ trauma into yet another PR clean-up job.
On cue, a White House spokesperson insisted Trump’s policies were helping, not harming, survivors.
Abigail Jackson told The 19th:
“President Trump’s Executive Order to address crime in DC even specifically took action against domestic violence… While President Trump is making America safer, the Fake News is whipping up their latest hoax in real time to distract from the Administration’s tremendous results.”
The internet and domestic violence experts strongly disagreed:
Next month is the 25th annual Domestic Violence Awareness Month, commemorating the 2000 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which cemented federal recognition that abuse is not just a “private matter” but a national crisis.
Trump’s sneering dismissal—reducing it to a “little fight with the wife”—undercuts decades of work by advocates who fought to secure legal protections and funding for survivors.
There is no metric, no creative data magic, that turns Washington into a “crime-free zone.” Despite the federal takeover, hundreds of crimes still occur each week. Even Trump’s hedged claim of “virtually no crime” is false.
But the bigger lie is his attempt to erase domestic violence from the conversation. For millions of Americans, those “little fights” are life-and-death battles—and they deserve leaders who treat them with the seriousness they demand.
On a final note, a verse Trump probably should’ve read up on at the Museum of the Bible (Psalm 11:5):
“The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion.”
Safe to say that’s not in Trump’s pocket Bible.
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