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How white radicals hijacked Portland’s protests Anarchists are using Black Lives Matter as a smokescreen for insurrection

A federal officer pepper sprays a protester in front of the Federal Courthouse in Portland (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

A federal officer pepper sprays a protester in front of the Federal Courthouse in Portland (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)


August 4, 2020   6 mins

The overwhelmingly white, anarchist activists who populate the ongoing protests in Portland, Oregon should not be underestimated for their strategic savvy. In seizing the mantle of “Black Lives Matter”, they’ve discovered a work-around to arrogate moral cover for whatever insurrectionary upheaval they would have been ideologically committed to fomenting anyway. The Left/liberal political and media class is deeply invested in preserving the untouchable sanctity of “BLM”. So by fusing themselves in the public mind with this ambiguously-defined protest movement, or even putting themselves at the vanguard, the anarchist whites insulate themselves from the type of scrutiny that might ordinarily be prompted by activists whose ultimate goal is the overthrow of the state — and who are happy to engage in what they call “a diversity of tactics” (up to and including violence) to achieve this.

It makes for a bizarre dynamic, as Democratic Party pundits and politicians routinely describe avowed insurrectionists as nothing more than benign “peaceful protesters”. And since the protests came to be arrayed against the federal forces dispatched to Portland by Donald Trump, more conventional elements of the Left/liberal “Resistance” have made common cause with these revolutionary anarchists who regard the very essence of the US political system — not just Trump — as innately fascist and “white supremacist”. On a recent evening, for instance, an older white couple in a pair of matching “Resistance”-branded T-shirts could be spotted in attendance among the radical activists, as well as a man sporting the slogan “Ridin’ with Biden”.

To characterise what’s gone on in Portland as a traditional “protest” is a misnomer, however. Pay a visit to the area around the Federal Courthouse in Downtown after midnight and you are greeted by brigades of black-clad “Antifa” foot soldiers — geared up in full body armour, complete with industrial-grade gas masks, shields and even customised radio systems. Being overwhelmingly white, they are strategic about public presentation: the speakers appointed to address the nightly “rallies” are almost exclusively black, as “amplifying black voices” to whom whites must dutifully “listen” is a central tenet of the Summer 2020 protest ethos.

If there is any foundational idea operative in Portland, it’s to keep a frenetic confrontation with the state going for as long as possible, so as to maximise the chances that an incendiary incident might occur and catalyse a larger insurrectionary uproar — similar to the killing of George Floyd in May, which sparked nationwide riots. One fateful tear gas canister fired into the temple of a “protester” could reverberate rapidly across the country; “Portland solidarity” actions have already sprouted up as far away as Richmond, Virginia. This is by design: a former occupant of the so-called “CHAZ,” the former anarchist commune that took over a portion of Seattle in June, told me a number of people who previously set up shop there had headed south to Portland.

As I milled around one night livestreaming on my phone, a “protester” wielding a heavy-duty shield emblazoned with the anarchist “A” symbol demanded that I cease recording. When I declined to obey this command, I was confronted by several additional “protesters” — all white, of course — one of whom snatched the phone out of my hands. It was only returned after I agreed to recite the phrase “Black Lives Matter” with sufficient vigour. This friendly fellow subsequently threatened to “fucking stomp me out,” and then ejected me from the protest zone — forcing me to run, not walk, away — as another associate hurled a projectile at me. Certainly not behaviour I’ve encountered at any other “protest”.

The pandemic is far from the minds of participants — in contrast with most working-class Americans. One night, I tried to put a question to Portland’s mayor, Ted Wheeler, about the advisability of mass protest gatherings as Covid cases spike in the state of Oregon. Wheeler had ventured out in a show of support for the protesters, and was even permitted to address the rally, despite being widely loathed. “Fuck you, Ted Wheeler,” his detractors shouted, unimpressed by his pleading. Still determined to demonstrate his solidarity, however, he subjected himself to a choreographed tear-gassing from federal forces (a New York Times reporter was right next to him at the time, surely by sheer coincidence.)

“The most important thing right now is the Black Lives Matter movement,” Wheeler replied to me, at which protesters in the vicinity became enraged, accusing me of engaging in “white supremacy” and “silencing” blacks for posing a question they (the whites) deemed “inappropriate” to an elected official. “That is a premise that doesn’t concern this movement at all,” one protester said of the pandemic, as others demanded that I “get the fuck out of here”.

Wheeler’s fallacy is imagining that any incrementalist policy reforms will satisfy the ideological core of these protesters, whose goal is abolition of the country’s entire criminal justice apparatus in addition to general insurrection. But as expected, even getting tear-gassed wasn’t enough to placate Wheeler’s critics. The following day, Jo Ann Hardesty, a Portland City Commissioner, dismissed Wheeler as “a privileged white man”. (Having received a sizable helping of tear-gas myself, I can confirm that it was highly unpleasant.)

The source of the animosity toward Wheeler is the conduct of the municipal Portland police, which a number of residents (and even officers) find genuinely baffling. “We are probably one of the most progressive law enforcement agencies I’ve ever had the opportunity to be around,” one veteran Portland Police Bureau officer told me as he monitored the protest action from afar one night, semi-hidden in an unmarked vehicle parked on a side street, with the massive booms of the “mortar”-style fireworks being fired at the Federal Courthouse crackling in the background. “And it’s just sad to me that we’re getting shoved back into this stigma of these jackbooted thugs again. All the outreach we’ve done — all the gang outreach we’ve been a part of — it’s all been taken away from us.”

Indeed, take a look at the official Portland Police Twitter account and you will find a banner image of an officer happily wearing a LGBT Pride Flag-coloured facemask. A left-wing political activist in Portland who asked to remain nameless for fear of retribution attested to having a friend in the Bureau who is a black lesbian woman with several children. “She’s one of the most thoughtful, intelligent people that I know,” the activist said, “who went into becoming a police officer because she wanted to see more people like her on the force in her community.”

They added: “We have a lot of people running this protest who have never been outside of this Portland bubble. And the Portland bubble is very comfortable. They don’t understand what real suffering is like.”

That black lesbian woman would presumably be implicated in one of the chants that has become a staple of the protests: “A – C – A – B… ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS” — which is unlikely to be a notion dispelled by marginal policy changes of the kind politely suggested, for example, by Wheeler. Nor would the withdrawal of federal forces from the area satisfy their insurrectionist demands. When protesters chant “NO GOOD COPS IN A RACIST SYSTEM,” the “system” to which they are referring is the foundational system of governance of the United States — again, deemed inherently “fascist” and “white supremacist”, and therefore impossible to reform. As one sign wielded by a protester declared: “The Revolution will not come by asking or voting,” with the customary anarchist “A” symbol scrawled onto the cardboard. Other protest phrases visible around Portland include “Die Piggies” and “Dead Cops,” as well as calls for the assassination of Trump.

Outside the core of the Downtown protest zone, the same mass-produced “Black Lives Matter” posters which have become ubiquitous across so many other American metropolitan areas dot the front porches and storefront windows of Portland establishments. (It’s certainly more culturally fashionable than “Joe Biden 2020” insignia, although the electoral implications are roughly similar). But a trip around the city also reveals hand-made yard signs posing questions such as, “DEAR WHITE PEOPLE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO END WHITE SUPREMACY?”

One potential answer to this question might be: “elect a black head of state,” as the overwhelmingly white Multnomah County, Oregon — home to Portland — did by a whopping 56-point margin in 2008 and 55-point in 2012. But a strange feature of this protest movement is that one would barely know Barack Obama, a black man elected president in a majority white nation, ever existed. Not that Obama’s mere election was supposed to have eradicated every last trace of racial inequities in the United States: of course it wasn’t. But you’d think it would at least inform popular conceptions of the role of race within the nation’s elite power structure. Instead, Obama seems to have been simply “erased” — the significance of his tenure not even worth mentioning. Are we to believe that a country so intractably defined by “white supremacy” — a totally uncontested truism among protesters and their media allies — nonetheless elected a black man not once, but twice? Apparently.

Like so many other cities across the US, much of Portland remains boarded up as a result of riots that initially broke out in early June after the George Floyd killing — compounded by decreased economic activity brought on by the pandemic. (Again, the virus is evidently not a “premise” of “concern” to protesters.) Even VooDoo Doughnut, a popular independent Portland shop featuring items like Vegan Maple Cream, was boarded up as of July 26, after one of its windows was smashed by “BLM protesters”, according to a security guard. “We had some threats,” he said. Overtly left-wing food carts — the mere existence of which is already something of a conundrum — also report being “damaged during the protests” and indefinitely closed.

While “The Feds” have reduced their visibility in recent days, that doesn’t mean the rancour will subside any time soon. Notwithstanding talk of a “peaceful transition,” one Department of Homeland Security agent told me: “There may be some unrealistic expectations. There’s never going to be a 100% withdrawal of federal officers from the federal building.” And one of the “voices” appointed to address a nightly rally last month explicitly likened Portland’s action to the Montgomery Bus Boycott of the 1950s, which lasted for 381 days.

Apart from highlighting the elevated historical terms in which these protesters see themselves, it’s an indication that Feds or no Feds, the Portland anarchists have every incentive to keep the chaos going in perpetuity. And why wouldn’t they? Clearly, their strategy is paying off.


Michael Tracey is a journalist in Jersey City, NJ

mtracey

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Andrew Best
Andrew Best
4 years ago

It’s pathetic looking in America.
It’s even more cringe worthy seeing toy town revolutionaries marching in a black militia over here.
No ideas
Can’t convince the working man just middle class university educated idiots.
All good pr for trump’s re-election campaign.
Pathetic

Bill Gaffney
Bill Gaffney
4 years ago
Reply to  Andrew Best

Portland, et.al., isn’t “America” sum total. Rest of us look pretty good.

David Probert
David Probert
4 years ago

Nothing new here. What it reveals is the devious political motivation of the BBC in concealing these facts

The BBC with its open bias and calculated omission is becoming a dangerously subversive organisation now deliberately hiding the truth from its naive audience.

What the BBC doesn’t tell you is even more dangerous than what it does.

The BBC is now no more than a (Deep) “State Ideological Apparatus” (SIA) ironically in the term invented by French Marxist Louis Althusser.

Eugene Norman
Eugene Norman
4 years ago
Reply to  David Probert

Yeh. Except Althusser put every form of civil society he didn’t like into the SIA.

Iliya Kuryakin
Iliya Kuryakin
4 years ago

There’s no hijacking here, this is what BLM are.

Chuck Burns
Chuck Burns
4 years ago

Yes the subversives are White, Yes they are radicals. What is important is their ideology. The common thread to all the division, disruption, and chaos is that these people are anti-America subversives. The root ideology is Marxism. They are Cultural Marxists, Socialists, and Communists actively working to destroy our culture, society, and government. They are creating the environment for change. The change is the fundamental transformation, to replace Capitalism with some form of Marxist system. Also part of the subversion are Islamist elements. All anti-America factions are at work in these riots. As the Democrats say, this is their “Opportunity”.

Robert G
Robert G
4 years ago
Reply to  Chuck Burns

Those are some powerful accusations. Can you speak more about about the role of Islamist elements? I don’t see radical Muslims as a major contributor to the present turmoil. Am I missing something?

chrisjwmartin
chrisjwmartin
4 years ago
Reply to  Robert G

As I understand it, there is a vocal faction within BLM from the Nation of Islam, which might have caused the confusion. The Nation of Islam call themselves Muslims but are actually an eccentric cult whose beliefs are not very Islamic at all. (That is not a defence of Islam, just a commentary on the lack of similarity between the two groups.) Similar to the relationship the Mormons have with Christianity, but more bizarre.

Bill Gaffney
Bill Gaffney
4 years ago
Reply to  Chuck Burns

BLM are Marxists. Marxists are Communists.

Eliot Jordan
Eliot Jordan
4 years ago

Sky News reporting what’s going on in Portland as “peaceful protests” and all the usual other anti Trump nonsense you get on there and the BBC

David Probert
David Probert
4 years ago
Reply to  Eliot Jordan

SKY News:
Comcast -Clinton supporting Globalist anti-Trump organisation.

We expect no less.

Esmon Dinucci
Esmon Dinucci
4 years ago
Reply to  David Probert

Try the Australian version much more accurateand scathing about many current issues.

Fraser Bailey
Fraser Bailey
4 years ago
Reply to  Esmon Dinucci

Yes, I’ve noticed that Sky Australia is very good. All viewable on YouTube.

Fraser Bailey
Fraser Bailey
4 years ago

We have known all this for about two months. Still, it’s nice to see it actually reported in something that is at least adjacent to the MSM. As for this:

‘Clearly, their strategy is paying off.’

I wouldn’t be too sure of that. Trump’s approval rating is roughly where Obama’s was at this point in the (re)election cycle, and rising. YouTube ratings for podcasts by black guys and girls like The Conservative Twins are through the roof. In one poll recently Trump had an approval rating among likely black voters of over 40%.

Notwithstanding mass mail-in voting fraud, if a combination of Blexit (Black Exit from the Democratic party), #Walk Away From the Democrats, Larry Elder’s ‘Uncle Tom’ film, and Defund the Police (supported by only about 33% of blacks), move the black vote needle by just a few percentage points, Trump will probably win again.

Basil Chamberlain
Basil Chamberlain
4 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

Your post assumes their strategy is actually to get Biden elected. I think this unlikely. Extremists like other extremists. Left-wing fanatics don’t want sensible moderate politicians to be in power, since this would make their rhetoric unconvincing. In one sense, Trump’s re-election would be a gift to the far left since it would appear to validate their assumptions.

Fraser Bailey
Fraser Bailey
4 years ago

That’s a perfectly fair point and, if anything, Biden and his controllers are much closer to the uber-corporate military-pharma-healthcare complex than Trump is. At least he is trying to bring the troops back from Afghanistan, only to be stymied by the politicians of both parties. Of course, the MSM doesn’t tell you this – instead you have to find out from Jimmy Dore.

Indeed, if Susan Rice becomes VP there will likely be a lot more foreign interventions etc as that is very much her bag. At the far reaches of speculation one could even see the Dems teaming up with China – to whom they are very close – in order to attack Russia.

Mark Corby
Mark Corby
4 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

“At the far reaches of speculation ” etc. That would be completely bonkers.

However ‘rinky dink’ the Russians are, it is axiomatic that they are ‘on side’ for the forthcoming China War.

Siberia is ‘warming up’ and covetous Chinese eyes have noted its potential. Additionally there are those lands around the Amur River, that Czarist Russia ‘acquired’ in the late 19th century that the Chinese have neither forgiven nor forgotten.

Nigel Clarke
Nigel Clarke
4 years ago

There is an interesting post from Tom Luongo on his blog about the upcoming DNC in Milwaukee…

The only thing the Democrats are united on is their hatred for Trump. But that hatred cannot be an animating principle to base an election strategy on, though, to this point, they certainly have tried.

Internally, there has been a three-sided war on for control of the party’s future.

There is the Boomers, represented by Hillary Clinton’s faction, who lost spectacularly when she backed a male version of herself, the profoundly disconnected and unlikeable Mike Bloomberg, as a stalking horse to pad her delegate count.

There is the frustrated Gen-Xers, represented by Barack Obama who was supposed to lead the party after his two terms as president. Biden is his representative and was the clear winner in the primaries as the candidate who theoretically could swing the center of the country away from Trump.

And then there is the Millennials, represented in the primaries by Bernie Sanders and the so-called squad. They are led now by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whose goal is to kick out all of these globalists and remake the party as the vanguard of a U.S. cultural revolution.

None of these people are acceptable to the center of the U.S. who today, no matter how hard they are being gaslit to believe, ultimately blame Donald Trump for their current problems.

https://tomluongo.me/2020/0

Antonino Ioviero
Antonino Ioviero
4 years ago

First mention I’ve seen of the strange omission of the Obama presidency in the White Supremacist America narrative.

Why hasn’t this obvious point been made earlier?

Jane Jones
Jane Jones
4 years ago

Maybe because mentioning Obama would inevitably connect to the next dot: the FAILURE of this “black’ president to do anything substantive for the 99%, including of course blacks—a failure that led directly to Trump’s election.

We have to get back to the class analysis. Obama is an Uncle Tom with a gigantic estate on Martha’s Vineyard. That is where he was always headed. But it might also house a listening post: geographically perfectly situated.

https://www.barrons.com/art

Ian Wigg
Ian Wigg
4 years ago

Don’t forget those other obviously White supremacists – Conde Rice and Colin Powell!

chris froud
chris froud
4 years ago

Nice to read a different version of events taking place in Portland. All the MSM in UK report it as peaceful protests / Trumps federal agents are thugs targeting innocent civilians. I have been following whats happening in Portland on twitter for the past few months and although I dont know the truth of the matter it is obvious the media are pushing an incredibly biased narrative. Will be interesting to see going forwards how the democrats at state/city level (and presidency if Biden wins) deal with all these radical protestors. I believe they have taken a short term cynical view that supporting them helps undermine Trump and will help deliver the presidency in November, even if this works these radicals are not going to just disappear.

David Waring
David Waring
4 years ago
Reply to  chris froud

Most of the UK have given up on the MSM due to its obvious bias.
The BBC/ITN/Sky Channel 4 bias is criminal.

Mike Horton
Mike Horton
4 years ago

It’s so unfair the silent majority of UK people who were appalled at George Floyd’s death, who typically agree that equality of opportunity is a good thing and that racism is bad (by any normal definition anyway), are all dictated to by the very vocal minority rentamob of (insert current outrage here).

It’s unfair because unless you blindly and immediately agree at the top of your voice with everything to do with BLM, you’re accused of being a white (I’m not white) supremacist (I’m not that either) fascist (nor this) by a bunch of seemingly mostly white superior-than-thou fascists.

Anyone who wants to debate the issue has somehow become racist. Anyone white not taking a knee is racist. Anyone not accusing white people who aren’t taking a knee of racism, is racist. It’s so complicated. I miss the days when you would just be accused of mansplaining, or sitting with your legs too wide apart on the tube.

And all of this is facilitated by virtue signalling bandwagon-jumping weaklings who don’t have the backbone to even discuss it. They are too busy blindly feeding the crocodile. The thing they need to remember is that the crocodile will end up eating them in the end too.

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile”hoping it will eat him last.” Sir Winston Churchill, another racist apparently.

#dontfeedthecrocodile

Peter KE
Peter KE
4 years ago

Interesting article, the UK needs to deal with its own anarchist thugs be they blm, x-rebellion or any other group. Zero tolerance needs to be the response by the police not taking the knee. Our government, civil service, judiciary and police need to get a grip and ensure they are working for the majority and ensuring democracy is maintained. The anarchist are anti-democratic thugs and need to be treated appropriately.

Neil John
Neil John
4 years ago
Reply to  Peter KE

With so many of the leadership/senior ranks of/in the government, civil service, judiciary and police being Common Purpose (CP) ‘graduates’ there’s precious little chance of that.

John Dowling
John Dowling
4 years ago

Maybe the author does not realize that “the killing of George Floyd” is playing into the anarchist hands. Mr Floyd, having been arrested for allegedly passing a forged $20 bill, was under the influence of fentanyl and had traces of other drugs in his system. He had heart disease, and died of a heart attack probably brought on by the stress of his arrest and the drugs he was on. Check the autopsy report. His irrational behaviour was likely due to the drugs and the start of the heart attack. He was a big man (6’5″) and all 4 of the policemen were unable to get him to stay in the police car, one suffering a minor knee injury. Having called for an ambulance, he was restrained until its arrival. Unfortunately, he died of the HEART ATTACK before it arrived. If he had obeyed police instructions and cooperated he would likely be alive today.

Dennis Boylon
Dennis Boylon
4 years ago
Reply to  John Dowling

He did some reporting from Minneapolis. He has done some really good work. Actual journalism like something from the past world. https://www.youtube.com/cha

Charles Hedges
Charles Hedges
4 years ago
Reply to  John Dowling

Several aspects need to be assessed:-
1.The possible harm done to people in a poor state of health resisting arrest.
2.What should be the publics’ responsibilities when instructed by the Police.
3.Doctors need to work with the Police and martial arts experts to devise techniques to restrain large strong and violent people who may have serious health problems. W E Fairbairn in the 1930s studied a number of martial art/fighting techniques to create a simple self- defence method for the Shanghai Police. In some ways the modern day Police have a more difficult job than Fairbairn as they have to know how to defend themselves from highly trained criminals to restraining violent, large and strong people in a very poor state of health under the influence of drugs.

LCarey Rowland
LCarey Rowland
4 years ago

Thank you, Michael, for reporting the other side of the story.

Eric Blair
Eric Blair
4 years ago

The Democrats and the establishment elites, including the media, are supporting these anarchists and far-left wingnuts because Trump. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

But both the Trump-supporting right and left-leaning skeptics like Tracey inflate the threat posed by antifa goons and the small cadre of belligerent radicals in Portland and give them way more credit than they deserve.

They may hate everything America stands for and wish to see the country “defunded” and destroyed but they do not have anything close to what could be considered popular support amongst the American people.

Recall that CHAZ/CHOP or whatever it was called camp in Seattle. It was a tragic joke. This short lived anarchist utopia included running gun battles between far-left antifa types, criminal gangs and right wing militia members. Four people were shot to death by violent criminal and unknown assailants.

Other highlights include rapes and sexual assaults and an organized mass looting spree at a suburban mall. At a rally for the faithful, white people were encouraged by organizers to find the nearest African-American person and give them $10.

By the time the cops shut their squalid and chaotic dump of an “autonomous zone” down the protestors, many of whom were indeed outsiders who did not live in the area, had already lost whatever tentative support they might have had amongst the ordinary burghers of the neighborhood.

It’s quite clear that these people are not going to be overthrowing the state anytime soon. I also wonder how many of the participants are bored and restless young men in locked down areas for whom nightly pitched battles with cops are more about releasing tension (and doing what youth have been doing since forever) rather than ideological fervor.

There is also the fact that the American economy has been in bad shape since the last recession in 2008 and people do have legitimate grievances that have long been ignored by both the Democrats and Republicans. Wealth inequality is off the chart and such a state of affairs is not conducive to a stable and content society.

At least some of the protestors might be motivated by legitimate concerns that affect their lives. Somehow I doubt the mom protest a few weeks ago was motivated by a commitment to far-left anarchism.

And last, but not least, the Patriot Act, DHS and the post-9/11 assault on the constitution did give the president dictatorial powers to use law enforcement agencies as police state-style enforcers, immune from constitutional oversight.

Yes, the mainstream media is very obviously biased against Trump and its claims should never be taken at face value. At the same time the situation is much more nuanced than articles like this one imply. There is no getting away from the fact that the economy has been mismanaged for decades and that America’s civil society is in crisis. The population is deeply divided and the elite/political class is wildly out of touch with the reality of the ordinary working class American. The crisis that is now unfolding was bound to happen sooner or later.

I like Michael Tracey’s work and am a bit disappointed that in this instance his reporting focuses far too much on surface level appearances. It just adds to the hysterical rhetoric while eschewing a more nuanced investigation of the facts.

This is not a sporting contest with teams and their supporters facing off against each other in a zero sum battle for ultimate supremacy. The future of a country is at stake here and I wish journalists would treat this crisis with the depth and seriousness it deserves.

Robert G
Robert G
4 years ago

I’m excited to find an article on UnHerd from one of my neighbors here in beautiful Jersey City. I see you’ve opted for British spelling. By request of the editors, I wonder, or just savouring the opportunity?

Interesting piece, anyway, with a needed reminder that a nation that twice voted for a black president probably isn’t irredeemably racist.

It might not be of sufficient global significance to warrant another article on UnHerd, but I’d be interested to hear the author’s thoughts on Mayor Steve Fulop’s response to the BLM movement. He has been clear he has no intentions of defunding the police, but makes some efforts to appease the protesters. Is it a disingenous effort to appease the mob (like Ted Wheeler, but more successful), or is there something else afoot?

Dave Tagge
Dave Tagge
4 years ago

While recent activities ramped up to a new level, there’s been a fair amount of violent activity by these antifa activists in Portland for at least a few years.

Seems like it’s been a generally undercovered story in U.S. media, though occasionally a particular event has made its way into major media coverage and a few people (Andy Ngo comes to mind) have reported extensively on it.

That’s more support for Michael Tracey’s point that this sort of activity isn’t likely to go away any time soon.

Fraser Bailey
Fraser Bailey
4 years ago

The extraordinary thing is that we live in a time of disgusting, neo-liberal, financialized economic structures that should see the left coming to power everywhere. The only problem is that the only thing the left can offer as an alternative is Venezuela, Baltimore and Portland etc. Good luck getting people to vote for that…

Robert G
Robert G
4 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

Very well said! I admire your perspicacity.

Of course, another big ticket item for the pro-socialism crowd in the U.S. in recent years has been healthcare. There’s no question our system has problems and we seem to be an outlier in the West in how we handle the issues. Somehow, despite the pandemic, focus switched from Obamacare to BLM. Perhaps its as you say, that the left got tired of losing and decided to try a different tack.

Walter Lantz
Walter Lantz
4 years ago

I wonder what they’re thinking over at the DNC.
Obviously they’re just aching to beat Trump but Biden is clearly past his best-by date and these urban riots can’t be helping.
Oh sure, wealthy athletes and celebrities taking a knee is no big deal, they can afford to buy their way clear of what passes for injustice these days.
But what about the damage the anarchists are doing to ‘regular working people’, even those that are self-declared lefties?
Boarded-up vegan salad bars?
And nary an alt-Righter anywhere in sight.
Can the Dems win the centrist vote without denouncing the anarchists?
The current activist-driven narrative has created two choices; you either support BLM or you are a racist.
So do they support the trendy popularity of Bothersome Little Marxists and their ‘tear everything down’ agenda?

Dennis Boylon
Dennis Boylon
4 years ago
Reply to  Walter Lantz

They don’t care about the election. They have a different plan.

Neil John
Neil John
4 years ago
Reply to  Dennis Boylon

Yes at the demonrat ‘war-games’ in June they table-top fought every scenario, including full armed insurrection, if they win or lose the election, to take power…

Seb Dakin
Seb Dakin
4 years ago
Reply to  Walter Lantz

..then they came for the vegan salad bars

monolocogb99
monolocogb99
4 years ago

Ok, you lost me at “Like so many other cities across the US, much of Portland remains boarded up.” There’s a couple of square blocks of downtown that are boarded up, but 99.9% of Portland is completely normal, or at least as normal as Portland ever is.

Clay
Clay
4 years ago

“Surely by sheer coincidence” referring to the gassing the Mayor got, is one of those lines. Set yourself apart by not inserting a spin line like the national news services do.
ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC and others can’t seem to resist the temptation to play one side against the other. Just report. After finding your comment early in your narrative I found myself considering your “jaded” view while reading.

Christopher Chantrill
Christopher Chantrill
4 years ago

The only reason these white soyboys get to riot is that “peaceful protest” is a religion to liberals in the US.

My take is that this is fake, because AntiFa are actually the stooges of the ruling class, their very special own Sturmabteilung to take command of the streets.

If the liberal elite didn’t condone these privileged youngsters, they would be outta here.

Back in the day, when the rough tough nobles had been civilized into courtiers they loved to be entertained by medieval romances, King Arthur and his Knights, chaps clop-clopping around the countryside rescuing damsels in distress.

This is a replay of the medieval romance, all woked up and Marxified.

Fraser Bailey
Fraser Bailey
4 years ago

You are right about the liberal elite condoning these youngsters and these riots. Check out Sanity4Sweden’s latest podcast in the light to Trump’s comments yesterday about people wanting him dead because he taking on the vested pharma interests etc. The same interests that killed Kennedy are the same interests that want Trump removed or dead.

Tired Man
Tired Man
4 years ago

Hijacked? This has been the case since day one.

Lee Johnson
Lee Johnson
4 years ago

What makes white middle class graduates become radical ?
50 years ago it was exactly the same, and the radicals I knew then have become quietly middle-class.
What is going on ? Lack of life challenges ?

Bill Gaffney
Bill Gaffney
4 years ago

“White Radicals”! BravoSierra Sierra! Criminal scum motivated and funded by Soros, Xi and the DemocratSlaveryParty. Don’t fool yourselves that BLM are anything other than Communist criminals also funded by Soros. These pandering DemocratSlaveryParty Mayors are reaping what they sow. Finally, Floyd was not a fine fellow. He was a criminal. He didn’t receive due process. The police officer will, if “facts” come out in a trail properly, be in receipt of a verdict based upon what the jury sees as allowed by the judge.

Bottom line anti-fa (actually fascists), BLM (communists), the DemocratSlaveryParty POLs don’t give a bent farthing about Floyd. This is about an election. Make book on it.

Jeffrey Shaw
Jeffrey Shaw
4 years ago

In case you are having difficulty as to how the system works – here’s the Chicago Police review of how the maneuvering took place in that city and turned things into a riot.
https://www.youtube.com/wat

david.wm.rodgers
david.wm.rodgers
4 years ago

The author should note that only rich white liberals would think of ‘demonstrating’ in Portland for a murder by police of a black man by a white cop, who has been arrested and charged with murder, in deep-blue Minneapolis.

Seb Dakin
Seb Dakin
4 years ago

How many of the BLM signs in shops etc. are simply there to stop the windows getting broken? Put another way, assuming you don’t want your windows broken, you don’t put up the Trump sign. You just keep quiet and vote for him on polling day. And people wonder how Trump’s support keeps being underestimated.

Scott Norman Rosenthal
Scott Norman Rosenthal
4 years ago

An old and trusted friend who recently disowned me. They forced me out of Liberty Union Party in Vermont. They have turned it from socialist into a front for violent anarchy.

rbotelho
rbotelho
4 years ago

Nice hatchet job for people drinking the paranoid Kool aid. Describing Portland mums with their yellow t-shirts and Dad’s with leaf blowers as white, anarchist activists is like the pot calling the kettle black. What do you call Trump’s federal agents in Portland? Agents of alt-right extremism? Whooooops;)

Su O.
Su O.
4 years ago
Reply to  rbotelho

He most pointedly did not describe Mums and (leaf-blowing) Dads as “white, anarchist activists.” He referred to Antifa as such, which is how they describe themselves and what their actions indicate. Do you seriously believe that self-described anarchists should be permitted to destroy a city and a Federal Courthouse, without interference or any attempt to enforce the law? In exactly what way is it “alt-right extremism” to enforce the law? Do you believe that such destruction as can be seen taking place in Portland in countless hours of video online is just . . . ok? These videos and the destruction and violence they clearly show are FACTS. It is in no way paranoid to acknowledge visible facts, nor is it a “hatchet job” to do so. You present no facts whatsoever, just absurd accusations.

rbotelho
rbotelho
4 years ago
Reply to  Su O.

Dissecting trolls? interesting metaphor. I thought that’s what I was doing;) More projection and the pot calling’s the kettle black. Su G.is right in making distorted assertions but that’s not what I said. Greg conveniently overlooked how these radical Portland Mums and Dads decided to protect these white, anarchist activists. How does Greg explain that?

Larry Percival
Larry Percival
4 years ago
Reply to  Su O.

Great putdown!

rbotelho
rbotelho
4 years ago
Reply to  Su O.

my replies are being censured or deleted. So much for free speech. What a bubble!

mark96
mark96
4 years ago
Reply to  rbotelho

Obviously not

Ralph Hulbert
Ralph Hulbert
4 years ago
Reply to  rbotelho

Even ‘largely peaceful’ (MSM) means partly violent. How much violence is democratic?

Dennis Boylon
Dennis Boylon
4 years ago
Reply to  rbotelho

The federal agents are at the federal buildings. Antifa is forcing the conflict by trying to burn down the federal buildings. The federal agents are not hunting down Antifa in their houses.