Federal response needed to handle Portland chaos
The city of Portland, Ore., is besieged by violent rioters who have committed to destroy everything in their crosshairs, including property of the federal government. Local leaders like Mayor Ted Wheeler and Gov. Kate Brown have been reticent to do anything meaningful to stop the carnage.
It is proper that President Trump deploy federal resources to protect federal property and quell some of the violence in the streets.
The progressive mayor on Wednesday night entered the chaotic epicenter of Portland to engage in listening sessions with the rioters. Instead, the crowds castigated him and presented him with a list of demands that included defunding the police and for Wheeler himself to resign.
The people destroying Portland are not protesters, they are violent anarchists who have been wreaking havoc upon the city every night for over 50 straight days. They attack federal personnel and destroy federal property. They use commercial grade fireworks as weapons and incendiary devices and employ hard projectiles to harm their targets.
It has become routine for these violent rioters to set fire to the federal courthouse and attempt to breach its doors.
A Department of Homeland Security report written Wednesday describes the previous evening: “rioters were able to tear down an entire panel of plywood protecting the building and proceeded to use part of the city’s abandoned fence from the park to attempt to block federal officers from exiting the building. When officers left the building in response, rioters responded by firing commercial grade fireworks at the officers.”
This timeline of events has become the norm.
When officers do eventually leave the federal buildings and make arrests, many in the media make pronouncements of “Stormtrooper tactics” being employed and other such wild misclassifications.
Sadly, politicians are being equally irresponsible.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Portland issued a statement reading, in part, “We are again reminded of the immense power of peaceful protest in the fight against racial injustice and police brutality.”
“The Trump Administration shows its lack of respect for the dignity and First Amendment rights of all Americans,” it continued. “Now, videos show them (federal officers) kidnapping protestors in unmarked cars in Portland — all with the goal of inflaming tensions for their own gain.”
The federal law enforcement agents largely are members of units within border patrol who are given jurisdiction within 100 miles of any border or ocean — in this case the Pacific Ocean. They all fall under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security.
Historically, federal agencies have been employed to carry out laws that the state is unable or unwilling to carry out.
The anarchic destruction of American cities under the watch of timid or complicit elected leaders cannot be allowed to continue. Such a condition tears at the fabric of a community and shatters the rule of law.
Portland requires a federal response if it is to be restored as a civilized city and not a continual cauldron of anarchy.