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Trump says Washington, DC, will never be a state — because of all the Democrats

WASHINGTON — President Trump says Washington, DC, won’t ever be a state because Republicans aren’t “stupid” enough to add guaranteed Democratic seats in Congress.

“DC will never be a state,” Trump told The Post on Monday during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office. “You mean District of Columbia, a state? Why? So we can have two more Democratic — Democrat senators and five more congressmen? No thank you. That’ll never happen.”

The capital city is home to roughly 700,000 people — more people than Vermont and Wyoming, and nearly as many as Alaska.

DC license plates carry the slogan “Taxation Without Representation” in protest of the lack of seats in Congress. Residents have a non-voting delegate in the House and no senators. If it were a state, DC would have one House member and two senators.

Republicans generally oppose a constitutional amendment to make DC a state, arguing that the Founding Fathers intended the area to have special treatment. Since ratification of the 23rd Amendment in 1961, DC has had a say in presidential elections, with three electoral votes.

Trump said that for Democrats, DC statehood is all about gaining an upper hand.

A 'Taxation without Representation' DC license plate, which adorned Barack Obama's limo during his presidency.
A “Taxation Without Representation” DC license plate that adorned Barack Obama’s limo during his presidencyAFP via Getty Images

“They want to do that so they pick up two automatic Democrat — you know it’s 100 percent Democrat, basically — so why would the Republicans ever do that? That’ll never happen unless we have some very, very stupid Republicans around that I don’t think you do. You understand that, right?” Trump said.

The president added: “Why don’t you just take two senators and put them in there? No, it’s not gonna happen. And how many House seats is it? Like four, three or four? Whatever it is. You’d have three or four more congressmen and two more senators, every single day of every single year. And it would never change. No, the Republicans would never do that.”

Trump has said almost nothing about DC statehood since taking office. In 2015, Trump said as a presidential candidate, “I would like to do whatever is good for the District of Columbia because I love the people.”

City residents are overwhelmingly Democratic. In 2016, Trump took just 4.09 percent of the vote against Democrat Hillary Clinton. The same year, 86 percent of city voters endorsed statehood.

Democrats who support DC statehood recently pointed to coronavirus legislation that gave the jurisdiction less money than any state as reason to change the district’s status.