Part 2/10:
Having lived and worked in the capital city, guest speaker Mick Mulaney shared insights into the city's current challenges. He highlighted that D.C. has long struggled with governance issues, particularly under the Democrat-controlled local government, leading to economic decline, vacant storefronts, and rising crime rates. Mulaney acknowledged that urban violence and safety concerns are not unique to D.C., citing his own experience of parts of the city being unsafe even in the 1980s and 1990s. However, he emphasized that the recent rise in crime, including attacks on congressional staffers and even lawmakers, has reached a point where the safety of ordinary citizens is compromised.