Trump administration 2024-2028

[PrairieFella]

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[PrairieFella]

No, but revenge is a dish best served cold... or so I've heard:

Why Donald Trump is obsessed with Portland​

Portland is the latest American city where Trump said he’ll send the military. But his fixation on Oregon is different.


Five years ago, rioters in Portland set fire to government buildings, epitomizing for many on the right the lawlessness and chaos that swirled around the George Floyd protests.

President Donald Trump never forgot.

On Saturday, the president announced that he directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to send U.S. troops to “War ravaged Portland” to protect “ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.” He also gave the extraordinary addendum that he was greenlighting the use of “Full Force, if necessary” in an American city.

The president, his aides and allies have been increasingly focused on Portland over the last several weeks, repeatedly referring to the city in apocalyptic terms that call back to the summer of 2020, when protesters gathered against police violence for more than 170 days.

Many demonstrations that summer were peaceful, but some people looted shops, tore down statues and clashed with police. Trump deployed more than 750 Department of Homeland Security officials into the city to quell riots without the approval of state and local officials.

On Thursday, in the Oval Office, Trump pointed to Portland for at least the third time in recent weeks as an example of a city in despair.

“Take a look at Portland some time,” Trump said. “These are crazy people, and they’re trying to burn down buildings.”

The president’s fixation with Portland — which has a far lower homicide rate than places like Memphis, Washington and Chicago, where Trump has already deployed federal troops or threatened to do so — has as much to do with what the city represents as the protests against ICE currently taking place. The White House views Portland as a useful example in its law-and-order campaign — a city Trump officials can elevate to push forward their message on everything from immigration to crime to far-left violence.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/27/donald-trump-portland-military-protest-00583423

Imagine the rancour if Biden had threatened "full force" from the military in a domestic capacity. If this isn't a line in the sand for supposedly decent Republicans, they aren't decent. This is five alarm fire territory.

 

[quadrapiper]

So where between "let the rioters riot" and "call out the army" is the preferred position?

Seems like if the bulk* of residents and their elected local and state governments don't care, and there's no unique federal interest (i.e., not in the capital, nor at, say, a border crossing) shrug and move on to any one of the infinity of problems where someone is asking for federal involvement. If there's federal buildings, secure them, sure, but otherwise if the locals fancy being French for a while, leave them to it.

Triply so in a country that's fifty sovereign duchies in a sack.

* You'll always find someone irritated by any conceivable civic choice, factoid, circumstance, faction, etc., whether current or twenty years settled.