Trump coming to town 6 months into Memphis Safe Task Force
President Donald Trump speaks during a Friends of Ireland luncheon for Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in the U.S. Capitol on St. Patrick's Day, March 17. (Alex Brandon/AP)
President Donald Trump comes to the city Monday, March 23, for the first time since the Memphis Safe Task Force formally began operations on his orders Sept. 29, 2025, in Memphis.
The stop is expected to be a victory lap for Trump who throughout the last six months in numerous comments has already attributed the city’s drop in crime completely to the federal law enforcement surge.
The reality is more complex.
Memphis crime has become an issue of statistics versus perception with some flavoring of political opportunism.
It wasn’t always this way when the statistics confirmed the perception. Things began to get trickier about two years ago when crime by the numbers in Memphis began to drop.
This is an excerpt of this story. To read more, please click here and subscribe.
Topics
Donald Trump Memphis Safe Task Force Paul Young Lee Harris Subscriber OnlyThank you for reading The Daily Memphian. Your support is critical.
Did you know we are a 501(c)3 nonprofit news organization? We rely on a mix of revenue from subscriptions (50%), advertising, events and other earned income (25%) and fundraising (25%).
Please consider making a fully tax-deductible donation or other contribution to The Daily Memphian today.
👉🏽 Your subscription pays for you to read all our journalism.
👉🏽 Your donation powers the work we do to reach everyone else with the news.
We believe an informed Memphis is a better Memphis. If you agree, join our growing list of donors now.
Bill Dries on demand
Never miss an article. Sign up to receive Bill Dries' stories as they’re published.
Enter your e-mail address
Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
Comments
Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here.