MSNBC host Jen Psaki is calling out the Trump administration after yet another school shooting left a community devastated. On Wednesday, a gunman opened fire during mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, killing an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old. Fourteen other children were wounded, along with three adults in their 80s.
Psaki, who served as press secretary under President Biden and is now a mother of two, shared her anger on X. “When kids are getting shot in their pews at a catholic school mass and your crime plan is to have National Guard put mulch down around DC maybe rethink your strategy,” she wrote.
Her post pointed to the bizarre reality of how the National Guard has been used in Washington this month. Trump deployed more than 2,200 troops to the capital under the banner of fighting crime, but many have been spotted doing landscaping work instead. Photos and eyewitness reports show Guard members picking up trash, raking leaves, and laying down mulch around the city.
Those jobs normally belong to the Park Service, but years of budget cuts and staffing reductions have left it stretched thin. According to The Washington Post, what used to be a D.C. workforce of 200 has dwindled to just 20. “It’s everybody—the masons, the maintenance workers, the groundskeepers, the plumbers. Every shop is short,” one Park Service official said.
Not everyone in uniform is happy about the reassignment either. Master Sgt. David Bowden admitted to the Post that the duties have raised concerns among soldiers. “It’s a question…[that] I and a lot of other higher enlisted are asking,” he said, referring to how landscaping work might interfere with training and readiness.
The Daily Beast reached out to the White House, asking how long Guard members would be pulled from their usual roles to handle yardwork in the capital, and whether the administration plans to address gun violence directly. There was no immediate response.
While critics like Psaki argue that sending troops to spread mulch does little to address rising violence or mass shootings, Trump’s most visible move on Wednesday was symbolic. He issued a proclamation ordering flags across the country to be flown at half-staff through the end of the month in honor of the victims.
The disconnect between the deadly reality in Minneapolis and the optics of National Guard members landscaping in Washington has fueled sharp backlash. For Psaki and others, the contrast highlights how far the administration’s crime strategy seems from the issues families are facing in churches, schools, and neighborhoods.
When kids are getting shot in their pews at a catholic school mass and your crime plan is to have national guard put mulch down around DC maybe rethink your strategy
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) August 27, 2025