Donald Trump faced fiery protests as he sat down for dinner in Washington, DC, with demonstrators shouting: “Free DC! Free Palestine! Trump is the Hitler of our time!”
According to videos shared online, the US president calmly approached the protesters inside the restaurant, pausing just a few feet away. He nodded and smiled, but stayed silent before motioning to clear the area with a simple: “Come on, let’s go.”
Within seconds, Secret Service agents moved in, escorting out protesters waving the Palestinian flag. Meanwhile, the restaurant crowd erupted—some booing, others breaking into chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!”
On Tuesday night, Trump had dinner at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak + Stone Crab, just blocks from the White House, while promoting his decision to deploy the National Guard and federalize the DC police force.
Cheers greeted Trump as he stepped from his limo, though the noise was mixed with boos and chants from activists denouncing US support for Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza.
“We’re standing right in the middle of DC, which for the last 20 years was unsafe. Now it’s virtually crime-free,” Trump bragged to reporters, claiming he wouldn’t have dared to stand openly “in the middle of the street” just months earlier.
Public dinners are rare for Trump, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed he and his team enjoyed crab, shrimp, steak, salad, and dessert. He was joined by Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and other top allies.
Ahead of the meal, Trump boasted that DC restaurants are booming thanks to his crackdown using National Guard troops. Videos showed Vance shaking diners’ hands and telling them to “enjoy your meal.”
This isn’t the first time Trump’s team has faced public backlash. Just last month, Vance was heckled while handing out hamburgers in DC, with one man branding him a “Nazi.”
Despite Trump’s claims, crime in DC was already at a 30-year low before his military deployment. While arrests have surged, a Reuters analysis revealed that federal agents are mostly targeting low-level offenses like marijuana use and public drinking. Shockingly, more than half of the cases involve such minor infractions, and grand juries have repeatedly thrown out attempts to secure serious gun and drug indictments.