Videos of federal law enforcement in Portland, Oregon, look bad. But then again, how could they look good?
Violence has been raging on Portland’s streets for eight weeks. Criminals have been looting, breaking windows and setting buildings on fire, shooting fireworks and BBs at police officers, all amid a deluge of grotesque graffiti.
Messages such as “10,000 dead cops” were painted on a police precinct. Its doors were also barricaded shut from the outside by the criminals who then set a fire in the front of the building with officers inside. Names and addresses of numerous Portland police officers were published online.
Under these circumstances, the president sent federal law enforcement to Portland to prevent the destruction of the federal courthouse. The building has been covered with graffiti, windows broken and fires set nearby. The federal government obviously has a compelling interest in preventing its building from looking like the rest of Portland or being burned down altogether.
Still, Democrats and liberal columnists offer only happy talk about what’s going on there. They claim it is “peaceful,” or mostly peaceful, as if we’re just not supposed to notice the violent activity that resulted in the feds’ appearance.
“There’s been some graffiti and some broken windows but not widespread damage,” Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who represents Portland, said on Wednesday. “Characterization of the acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolfe that this is a community in chaos and riots is just an outright lie.”
Portland Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis has told a different story: “This was a more violent episode of civil unrest than we have — than I have ever seen in my entire career,” he said of May 29, the beginning of continuous and nightly violence. Davis continued to outline specifics about weeks of rioters self-arming with shields and helmets, Molotov cocktails, and other weapons.
Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty suggested on Wednesday that Portland police are lying — that the officers are the problem. “They [Portland police] absolutely are targeting places where the community is demanding reform and demanding that we disarm, defund and totally change how policing works in America,” Hardesty said. “I want people to know I do not believe that there are any protesters in Portland that are starting fires, that are creating chaos. I absolutely believe that it is police action, and they (sic) sending saboteurs and provocateurs into peaceful crowds so that they can justify their inhumane treatment of people who are standing up for their right.”
Hardesty has since apologized, but her language and that coming from other liberals completely punts on the violence, even pretending that it isn’t happening. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times has called the recent episode “Trump’s occupation.” Her only mention of violence was an empty comparison of Trump’s actions to those of fascist Spain and the Russian Empire, historical examples of “border agents being used against regime enemies.” Federal officers weren’t sent to Portland to seek out Trump’s enemies. They were sent to keep rogues from burning up federal property. Elsewhere, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said federal officers, dubbed “stormtroopers,” were kidnapping people. Blumenauer’s words were “snatching them off the street.”
All these comments about Portland are motivated by political considerations, as are Trump’s. His oft-repeated line, which he offered weeks ago and reiterated on Monday from the Oval Office, implicates Democratic mayors in the violence in their cities. The claim is clearly part of a political strategy, and it’s almost impossible to interpret the deployment of federal officers without that political battle in mind.
Even so, it’s not like nothing is happening there. What’s most outrageous is the total lack of indignation about what’s been going on in Portland for nearly two months. At least Trump wants it to end.
