I’d agree with that. Probably more than ever with increasing applications, those mid/high tier schools don’t want to just become a safety school for a high achiever, they want to protect their yield.
So it’s still important to demonstrate interest, get applications in early with good essays, etc. As I said, I definitely wouldn’t see American and GWU as “safeties” for anybody but certainly “likely” for a high achiever, as long as they take the process seriously.