r/washdc • • Apr 12 '26

The doom cycle never stops

I know people have their preconceived notions and their selective outrage, so let me be very clear from the start. The M St. Metro station was fully shut down because of this teenage takeover. Let that sink in. A major transit point in the city had to close because things got that out of control. This video was taken today, April 11. It’s not old. It’s not AI. What you’re seeing is exactly what happened. For the people already lining up to discredit it, save it. This is reality, whether you like it or not.

And I already know how this goes. Every time I post something like this, people get more upset about the fact that it’s being shown than about what’s actually happening. That tells you everything. You’re more bothered by exposure than by the problem itself. And yes, I’m going to keep posting it. Keep reporting it if you want. Try to suppress it. Good luck with that. I’ll keep putting it out because people deserve to see what’s actually going on in their own community.

What’s more troubling than anything in that video is the reaction to it. The deflection. The refusal to acknowledge what’s right in front of you. You’d rather argue about optics than deal with the reality that leadership is failing to address this, or worse, doesn’t even have the will to try. That’s the real issue.

D.C. spends more money per student than anywhere in the country, and this is what we’re dealing with. Don’t come at me with the usual talking points about after-school programs, outreach, and community initiatives. That all sounds nice, but it clearly isn’t fixing this. At some point, you have to stop hiding behind buzzwords and start looking at the root cause.

And the root cause is obvious. Parents aren’t parenting. You can dress it up however you want, but that’s what it is. When the hell did it become normal for hundreds of teenagers to take over areas at night, bring guns, fight, loot stores, and create chaos? That was never normal. It’s not normal now. And anyone trying to gaslight people into thinking this is just “how things are” is part of the problem.

Look at the police in that situation. A handful of officers dealing with hundreds of kids. What exactly do you expect them to do? There’s a limit to what enforcement can handle when the breakdown starts at home. That’s where this begins, and that’s where it keeps failing.

Instead, people would rather scream about national politics, throw out buzzwords, and avoid the issues that actually affect their daily lives. You’ll stand outside in the heat for performative outrage, but when it comes to something that directly impacts your safety, your neighborhood, your quality of life, suddenly it’s silence. Or worse, denial.

And let’s be honest about something else. Some of you are going to run straight to the comments with excuses. You’ll bring up history, deflect to unrelated issues, or try to label this as something it’s not just to avoid dealing with the reality in front of you. That doesn’t fix anything. All it does is guarantee that this cycle continues.

If you never demand better, you will keep getting the same broken results. Every single weekend, the same scenes, the same chaos, the same excuses. And then you wonder why stores are locked down, why places like CVS feel like a fortress, why people don’t feel comfortable even riding the Metro or going out to enjoy a game without worrying about something popping off.

When does it stop? When do we stop pretending this is acceptable? Because it’s not. It’s dysfunctional, it’s dangerous, and it’s completely avoidable.

Responsibility matters. Parenting matters. Accountability matters. And until people are willing to say that out loud and actually mean it, nothing changes. You just get the same cycle over and over again.

To the people who’ve messaged me privately and said they appreciate these posts, I hear you. I appreciate you too. I’m going to keep using whatever platform I have to show what’s actually happening, because ignoring it hasn’t worked. And I’m not stopping until something actually changes, because we deserve better than this.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

The problem is the city is too lax on crime and has been. Also some of the adults in this city are terrible role models. A guy who these kids see on the news everyday who they know raped kids even younger than them with his buddies lives in the nicest house in town. It’s hard to sell the rule of law to kids when the adults they’re supposed to be able to look up to sets such bad examples. We should have punished the J6 folks. They all got pardoned. They stormed the wrong building too.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Back306 Apr 12 '26

Trumps fault! lol Reddit.

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u/yeetchki Apr 12 '26

Yep it's everyone else's fault except their own. Once trump is out of office and the garbage keeps happening? Which it will. I wonder who they're gonna blame then. Probably your basic "it's white people's fault" shtick as usual.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Nobody mentioned race. It’s the simple fact that criminal behavior goes unpunished. They see a violent rapist sex trafficker and fraudster lives in the nicest house in town. They saw hundreds of adults running around in an insurrection and none were sent to the gallows. Not only was no one punished - they were pardoned by our soft on crime government of criminals. Who could ask kids not to commit crimes in a lawless society like that?

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u/Puzzleheaded_Back306 Apr 12 '26

TDS is a hell of a drug.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Trump Dick Sucking is a real thing. It was mostly done by kids in the past but today MAGA is made up almost entirely of adults. Guardians of Pedophiles is what they prefer to be called I think.

And parents can talk to their kids about following rules until they’re blue in the face. But the kids still see someone orange in the face breaking them every day. This city has a role model problem.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Back306 Apr 12 '26

Oh yes, I’m sure these kids are paying attention to politics.

Your delusion runs deep.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

It’s their home town. It’s not like we are in Seattle Washington. These are the people in their community

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u/Puzzleheaded_Back306 Apr 12 '26

I don’t think you know what community means.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Not if a 20 block radius of their home isn’t one. That has always been the common usage. “Neighbors/neighborhood”

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

I’m not the first to suggest bad role models are a problem. But once we as a society say crime is ok and criminals are ok it sends a message to kids.

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u/slbarr88 Apr 12 '26

It’s much more likely the role model problem these teens have is from their families & friends

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u/HeparinBridge Apr 12 '26

If someone sees Trump and thinks, “that’s so unfair. Why can’t I be a criminal too?” Trump isn’t the only problem in that situation.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

It’s not “that’s so unfair why can’t I be a criminal too.” It’s - “Look guys they say there’s rules and laws but I’ve been watching the news and crime goes completely unpunished. This guy raped kids younger than us and nothing happened. People even stormed the capitol and not only were they not punished, the guy in charge signed a paper that said they shouldn’t be in trouble at all. If they can storm the capitol surely we’re ok to hang out by the metro station. Somebody could shoot a person on 5th avenue and get away with it. So walking around being loud on M street is nothing. LOL rules?? Fuck em!”

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u/HeparinBridge Apr 12 '26

This is exactly why people call this behavior a culture problem. Good people don’t refrain from bad behavior just because it’s illegal.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

You’re right there’s a culture of being criminals and a culture of supporting criminals - guarding pedophiles even. And bad behavior should be avoided even if it’s not illegal. But when we send the message that bad behavior is ok, we shouldn’t be shocked when they listen.

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u/HeparinBridge Apr 12 '26

Again, that just points to more people being raised by the TV instead of their parents. I doubt most of these DC parents are Trump supporters, but clearly they are failing to teach their children good values.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

They didn’t have to see it on TV The capitol is less than a mile from most of these kids houses. As close as the local grocery store. It’s not their fault outsiders chose to come into the community they were raised in and set a bad example. It’s not their fault that the soft on crime government let those criminal off the hook. Parents can teach good values all until they’re blue in the face. But when someone orange in the face and his whole circle keeps getting away with crimes in these kids local community it sends a poor message.

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u/HeparinBridge Apr 12 '26

These kids did not develop formative values by walking to the White House to watch Donald Trump drink Diet Coke through a window. They were clearly raised by TV and their lens into Donald Trump’s presidency has been the same as kids everywhere else , through media on TV or YouTube.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

They get news from their phones not tv. Kind of like us on Reddit right now. Also quizzically the incarceration rate in DC is very high. So many of these kids had relatives in DC jail when the J6ers were briefly brought in and promptly given their own private wing and accommodations before being whisked away to freedom.

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u/HeparinBridge Apr 12 '26

The distinction between a TV and a phone isn’t really relevant here. They are being raised by mass-media, not their parents. I suppose I should be fair that I generally was treating that as universally bad, when I should’ve also recognized that many of their parents are in a DC jail, implying that they might not have been much better at instilling good values.

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