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THE POLITICAL BATTLE OF PORTLAND. Yes, there is still fighting around the federal courthouse in Oregon’s largest city — expect that to go on for a while — but now the political conflict around the riots is escalating.
On Tuesday, Joe Biden accused federal law enforcement of “brutally attacking peaceful protesters” around the federal courthouse in Portland. Federal officers are operating “without a clearly defined mandate or authority,” Biden said in a statement, adding that the White House is “trying to stoke the fires of division in this country.”
“Peaceful protesters”? Has Biden seen videos of the nightly assaults on the courthouse?
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“What Joe Biden calls ‘peaceful protestors’ are actually left-wing anarchists who are assaulting police officers in Portland and, incredibly, Biden is siding with the criminals,” the Trump campaign responded. “These ‘peaceful protesters’ are using lasers to target officers’ eyes, shooting ball bearings with slingshots, using pellet guns and air rifles, launching fireworks at the officers, and barricading police inside a federal courthouse.”
“That Biden would accuse law enforcement of ‘stoking the fires of division’ while the mob is literally setting fires to police buildings is unconscionable,” the Trump campaign continued. “Biden has clearly lost his moral bearings.”
The White House statement got to one of the most striking issues in the Portland matter, and also in the protests around the country. National and local Democrats are downplaying the disorder and defending those causing it. They will often refer to rioters breaking windows, setting fires, pulling down statues, and more, as “peaceful.”
Meanwhile, Oregon officials seem in denial about what is taking place around the courthouse. Just because the disorder has not spread to the entire city of Portland, they suggest everything is really OK. “Portland, Oregon is not out of control,” Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who represents part of Portland, said on the House floor Tuesday. “To be sure, there are some people who have strong feelings, and there are some who have done things that are inappropriate and unlawful. But that is the challenge of local officials and our state officials to manage it.”
Problem is, local and state officials are not managing it. Portland police have taken pains to say that they are staying away from the crowds attacking the courthouse. After Sunday night’s rioting, police issued a statement to make clear they weren’t anywhere near the rioters.
Meanwhile, the White House has the law on its side when it comes to protecting federal facilities in Portland, or anywhere else. It doesn’t matter that local officials say they don’t want to protect the federal courthouse and don’t want the federal government to do so, either. That’s not the way things work. “Federal enforcement is not ‘by invitation only,'” George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley tweeted Monday. “The use of federal agents to protect federal property or enforce federal law does not depend on local permission. There may be legitimate questions on how that authority is used, but not the right to use the authority.”
