Flashback: When Mayor Bowser went to Trump Tower
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Bowser at Trump Tower lobby on Dec. 6, 2016. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
In December 2016, Mayor Muriel Bowser met President-elect Trump at Trump Tower, talking over D.C. issues during his first transition.
Why it matters: It was a show of pragmatism by both, but eight years later, it strains the imagination to picture Trump and Bowser coming together again.
Flashback: To put it in perspective, Bowser was nearly two years into her mayoralty. She stood outside the golden elevators in Trump's lobby to tell reporters: "We had a wide-ranging conversation about things that are important to Washingtonians" — like Metro funding.
- "He is a supporter of the District of Columbia," said Bowser, who two years and four months before that moment participated in the most municipal of political rituals, shoveling dirt at a groundbreaking photo-op — for Trump Hotel.
Trump summoned Bowser to the White House during a snowstorm in March 2017.
- The highly unusual get-together is one Oval Office meeting more than Bowser has ever had with Biden.
The big picture: A lot has changed since then. Trump has promised to "take over our horribly run" capital city, and that means, "we're going to take it away from the mayor," as he put it at one rally.
- In 2020, Bowser declared Black Lives Matter Plaza outside the White House, a giant rebuke to Trump.
- January 6 further poisoned relations between the two.
If a meeting does miraculously occur, there's a lot to talk about:
- Inauguration preparation, for starters.
- But also the federal RFK Stadium land, whose future is in congressional limbo; the future of local home rule and whether Trump is serious about a federal takeover; and the importance of the feds to the downtown economy.
"As with the previous two federal transitions, the Bowser administration will coordinate closely with the incoming presidential team to ensure a safe inauguration and to advance the District's priorities," a spokesperson for the mayor told Axios.