War-Ravaged Portland

I was thinking that I might take some photos on my walk tomorrow to show you Portland in all of its overcast autumn glory, but you don’t need to see images of our tree-lined streets and our community gardens and our delicious overpriced coffee to know that claims of Portland being “war ravaged” are bullshit. You don’t even need to see videos of protestors dancing in inflatable frog costumes on a single block well away from the city center, in front of the ICE building, to know it. Any thinking person can recognize “war-ravaged Portland” for the blatant lie that it is.

I think that Trump wants to invade Portland for a couple of reasons. First, because we embarrassed him in 2020 when he sent in federal forces to try to suppress the Black Lives Matter uprising and instead brought Portlanders out en masse to defend each other and our city. He couldn’t quash the protests. They ran for over 100 nights, tapering off only when severe wildfire smoke shut the city down. Second, because they need a spectacle to justify—in the minds of Fox News viewers anyway—the mobilization of military forces in Democratic-majority cities leading up to the 2026 election, with the goal of suppressing votes through intimidation, or potentially to declare martial law and “postpone” the election. Portland will fight back, they think. We’ll get lots of juicy footage of street battles and trash cans on fire, they think. It’s an authoritarian power play.

(The same people who rolled their eyes and said we were overreacting when we warned against the rise of fascism in 2016 are now rolling their eyes at the suggestion of martial law.)

Portland has a reputation for being scrappy and resourceful. We have a reputation for antifascist action, and for good reason. As I wrote for The Nation in 2020, Portland has a history of successfully standing up to fascists. An authoritarian regime wouldn’t appreciate that particular skill set. So their hope is that if they federalize some other state’s National Guard, illegally deploying them against the people of the United States, Portland will come out swinging in full black bloc and scare folks watching through their screens back home. There are no National Guard troops deployed here yet, thanks to a Trump-appointed judge of all people, and let’s hope that holds. But in the meantime, the only spectacle they’re getting is a dance party with inflatable frogs and unicorns. You’ve all seen it by now, I’m sure. It’s a wonderful tactic to confront an opponent who wants a violent photo op, one that was also used to great effect in the antifascist counterprotests back in the days when Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys would come to town, before we chased them away for good.

(Well, we chased them away in that particular form, but it sure looks like many of them are now working for ICE, doesn’t it? The volunteer brown shirts have gone pro.)

What this authoritarian regime is trying to do in Portland and LA and Chicago is a test run for their intentions with every Blue state. However it plays out here, Portland’s got this. We’re battle-tested and we’re weird as hell. Through Occupy and the years of confrontation with Patriot Prayer and their ilk, through Occupy ICE in 2018, and then the 2020 BLM uprising, we’ve had lots of practice forming communities of resistance. We’ve got the elders who have been activists for forty years or more, we’ve got the cranky Gen Xers who’ve been warning about this crap for years (*raises hand*), we’ve got the earnest Millennials, and we’ve got the brash young folks who learned as teens in the 2020 protests how to be water, and whose knees are still springy enough to run from a bull rush.

Friends, this shitshow is coming to your town, too. Find your people. Support each other. Now. All we have is each other.