President Donald Trump stepped out for dinner in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday evening – only to be confronted by protesters calling him “the Hitler of our time.”
Trump was joined by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other senior White House officials for the visit to Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab, a short walk from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The trip was intended to highlight how safe the city has become since the administration moved to federalize the policing of the District of Columbia last month, sending in the National Guard and other federal agents to help local law enforcement stamp out urban crime, despite the official statistics suggesting no such step was necessary.
“We’re standing right in the middle of D.C.,” Trump crowed to reporters before entering the restaurant. “This was one of the most unsafe cities in the country. Now it’s as safe as anywhere in the country.”
But videos posted to social media reveal the evening was not quite as tranquil as the president might have liked.
Not only did he face tough questions from the press about Israel and Jeffrey Epstein outside the venue, activists also took the opportunity to heckle him inside with cries of “Free D.C.! Free Palestine! Trump is the Hitler of our time!”
“You are not welcome here!” one woman tells the president, with another voice heard in the restaurant replying “yes he is”. Trump initially looks unfazed by the chanting but then gestures to his security team and says: “Come on. Let’s go. Get them out of here.”
The activist in question is then escorted out of the dining area but continues to yell, despite some boos: “He’s terrorizing communities all over the world! From Puerto Rico… to Palestine to Venezuela! He’s not welcome to D.C.! He’s not welcome to Palestine! Palestine is not for sale!”
Ultimately undeterred by the disturbance, Trump and his entourage finally sat down to eat and, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, dined out on crab, shrimp, salad, steak and dessert, which she said was “phenomenal.”
Given that the president predominantly operates only in the rarified atmospheres of the White House, Mar-a-Lago and his exclusive golf clubs in New York, New Jersey and Virginia, he is seldom confronted by hostile members of the public.
However, he has shown a greater willingness to venture out and about of late, attending the men’s final of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in his hometown on Sunday.
He is also set to attend a New York Yankees game at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Thursday in honor of the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and could face further boos and taunts if he does so.
