I was in Washington DC last week for a work trip......

[marmar]

...... it's a city I travel to frequently, and that I love dearly, so to see what this cabal has done to it is galling.

The National Guard is still there, walking around Metro stations and the National monuments, mostly talking to each other and looking at their cellphones. I talked to a guy who said his neighbor was stabbed outside his home and some National Guard members were right there, but all they did was the same thing he did - call 911 - because it's all they're really authorized to do. It's all a show.
The layers of fencing around the White House extend out so far that you can't get anywhere close to it - it's even hard to see it (or the monstrous hole in the ground where the East Wing was).
It was the week before Memorial Day - usually a busy tourism week because of the 8th grade field trips followed by holiday weekend visitors (which you would assume would be even busier because of the 250th celebrations). I reserved a slot at the renovated Air & Space Museum weeks ahead of my trip to make sure I got a slot. When I got there, no lines - I could have scanned the QR and gotten right in.
Visiting some of my favorite neighborhoods - Dupont Circle, U Street Corridor - things were pretty quiet, even on a Friday night. There were plenty of closed restaurants, shuttered storefronts and TONS of vacant office space.
And you could just feel the "vibes". Washingtonians feel like they're living in an occupied colony.

[CincyDem]

1. It was the same vibe about 6-8 weeks ago while we were there.

Went over to Penn Quarter for dinner at one of our favs. Typically, hard to get a reservation. This trip...it was walk in and grab a table. Streets were dead. It was a Saturday night. The valet guy said weekends have been like this for a while and the weekdays are worse.

Such a waste.

[magicarpet]

3. International tourism is way down, the dislike of trDUMP is globally universal.

The USA is no longer trusted seeing how we installed this Fascist Tyrant back in the White House once again. First time might be a boo-boo. Second time only fucking idiots would do this on purpose.

American Exceptionalism - is seen as a grand royal fuck up by a MAGA red hat racist, White Supremacist, very uneducated, buy-bull thumping, greedy, selfish, and intolerant stupid people. Who gleefully trashed American Democracy for Fascist Authoritarianism as a viable, acceptable, and functionable substitute.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Trump killed the capital of the USA.

Putin and Xi are thrilled.

[EYESORE 9001]

4. I understand Berlin was in a gloomy mood for some dozen years

but they eventually came out of it (Rammstein notwithstanding ).

[Irish_Dem]

5. I wonder how long it will take DC to come back to life.

If it ever will.

[EYESORE 9001]

6. I believe happier times will prevail

after the orange menace starts getting his mail delivered by gophers.

[niyad]

9. Byeeeeee

[nitpicked]

7. IMO, should have looked across the river

There are a few spots in Arlington VA.

Such as "restaurant row" in Crystal City (generally 500 block of 23rd Street S.), the area around the county courthouse, etc.

These are propped up by not-going-away factors such as the Pentagon (and to a lesser extent Amazon's HQ2) sort-of-near 23rd St., the courthouse around the Wilson Blvd/Clarendon Blvd intersection, etc. These are to some degree less subject to customer shock as prices rise due to restaurant food and labor cost increases.

But restaurants there have worse problems if they aren't in a "captive audience" location. As office occupancy rates decrease, those who depended on such customers often are hurting. And I suspect some who might have gone out (or ordered delivery) are instead eating groceries at home.

[yardwork]

10. Last time I was in DC was about a year ago.

The mood was already sour.

[AverageOldGuy]

11. Our daughter lives on Capitol Hill

She says the animosity aimed at Trump and anything or anyone associated with him is so intense you feel it. Everyone she knows feels sorry for the National Guard troops and go out of their way to be nice to them