Trump Supporter Killed In Portland

 It was only a few hours after I wrote on Saturday that violence was spiraling out of control and both sides were escalating the situation that a Trump supporter was killed in Portland by leftist rioters. The murder was live-streamed as a convoy of Trump supporters in cars drove through the city, which has been rocked by BLM and Antifa violence for months.

The Post Millennial, a Canadian outlet, the New York Times, and CNN have some of the most detailed information on the shooting, but police have released few details even a day later. The confrontation began with a “Trump 2020 Cruise Rally in Portland” that began in Clackamas. Police tried to prevent the Trump-supporters from going downtown, but some vehicles did so anyway. Shortly after, confrontations were sparked between the pro-Trump group and leftists in the downtown area.

Videos of the rally, including one retweeted by President Trump, show trucks flying Trump flags with people in the back, some wearing body armor and gas masks, shooting paintballs and what appears to be pepper spray at pedestrians. Demonstrators on the street hurl insults and burn Trump flags.

It was in this environment that a prominent member of Patriot Prayer, an Oregon pro-Trump group, was killed. The name of the victim has not been released and police reportedly have no suspects. The murder was caught on camera and tweeted by Andy Ngo.

The video shows a quieter street than the scene that Trump retweeted. Someone yells what sounds like, “We’ve got a Trumper over here” and then there are two gunshots. A pedestrian staggers a few steps and then falls to the street. Two assailants run away as a crowd gathers over the fallen man. In the jumble of voices, someone yells, “We are trying to help you” amid cursing.

In a subsequent tweeted video, an unidentified speaker says over a loudspeaker, “I just got word that the person who died was a Patriot Prayer person. He was a f-ing Nazi. Our community held its own and took out the trash. I’m not going to shed any tears over a Nazi.”

While reprehensible, these comments are strikingly similar to the response to the shooting in Kenosha last week. Many on the right celebrated the deaths of two men who were assumed to be criminals and communists. A great many grassroots voices celebrated Kyle Rittenhouse in terms that sounded a lot like the mirror image of the Portland woman’s speech.

None of these killings should have happened. As I discussed last week in my article on Kyle Rittenhouse, there was a chain of events that led to the Kenosha shootings and plenty of blame to go around on both sides. Even worse, politicians on both sides are pouring fuel on the fire with their rhetoric.

As I pointed out over the weekend, violence begets violence. This most recent murder will spark retaliation by Trump supporters. That retaliation will mean that the leftists will require an eye-for-eye. The deteriorating situation means that America could be on the brink of widespread political violence or a civil war.

Rioting is wrong. So is taking the law into your own hands. So is shooting paintballs and pepper spray at pedestrians. As my parents taught me decades ago, two wrongs don’t make a right. The prescription for illegal activity is not more illegal activity.

The country desperately needs state and local governments to rein in the violence. On both sides. Both the rioters and vigilantes need to go home or go to jail. The provocations have to end for the good of the country.

Joe Biden has issued a strong statement, saying, “The deadly violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable. Shooting in the streets of a great American city is unacceptable. I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right.” 

More elected officials should follow suit. We need statesmen who will put country over party, stand up, and hold everyone accountable rather than pointing fingers at the other side and justifying their own side’s excesses. A joint statement by Donald Trump and Joe Biden condemning violence and calling for calm might go a long way.

That approach would require a consistent message from both sides, however. Too many on both sides are still stuck on stupid and rationalizing why only the other side is to blame. That means the violence will continue.

Originally published on the Resurgent

Portland Mayor's Weakness Fuels Violence

Ted Wheeler, the mayor of Portland, has lost control. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Wheeler has ceded control of his city to Antifa with predictable results.

Portland is normally a hotbed of liberalism, but the city has boiled over in recent weeks. The trouble started with the police shooting of Patrick Kimmons on September 30. In the days after Kimmons’ death, Antifa members rallied to Portland to protest. On October 14, Patriot Prayer, a right-wing group with a history of provocative rallies, staged a counter-demonstration that led to violent clashes between the rival groups. Critics charge that Mayor Wheeler contributed to the violence by ordering police to stand down.  

In the Washington Times, Wheeler said, “I was appalled by what I saw in the video, but I support the Portland Police Bureau’s decision not to intervene. This whole incident will be investigated.”

The video that Wheeler referred to was one of several taken by Andy Ngo and posted to Twitter. It showed black-clad Antifa members directing traffic in an intersection and attacking cars while Portland police looked on. The militants reportedly broke the window of a Lexus driven by a 74-year-old man who did not follow their directions.

“This is the kind of street anarchy that routinely happens where I live,” Ngo said.

The Portland violence resembles the Charlottesville rioting from last year. After Antifa descended on the city, right-wing activists staged a “flash march for law and order,” led by Joey Gibson, a former Republican Senate candidate. Gibson’s Patriot Prayer group included members of the Proud Boys, an alt-right group of brawlers founded in 2016. Like Charlottesville, when police stood down, the two groups mixed with explosive results. Proud Boys were also involved in a New York City clash over the weekend.

Oregon Live reported that participants in the street fighting carried bear spray, hard knuckle gloves, knives and firearms. There were no arrests, but riot police reported intervened to stop at least one skirmish by firing pepper balls at the crowd.  

The mayor argued that he would have been criticized no matter how he had handled the Portland mobs. “This is the story of Goldilocks and the two bears. The porridge is either too hot or it’s too cold,” Mr. Wheeler told reporters. “At any given moment in this city, the police are criticized for being heavy-handed and intervening too quickly, or they’re being criticized for being standoffish and not intervening quickly enough.”

The best solution would seem to have been to uphold the law. When two opposing mobs, neither with a permit for a demonstration, are street fighting in downtown Portland, destroying property and endangering citizens, it is the responsibility of the city government and police to take charge of the situation. Mayor Wheeler’s failure to exercise his authority to protect the city directly contributing to the rioting. It was Mr. Wheeler’s initial lack of response to Antifa that led Patriot Prayer to launch their counter-protest.

Portland is a liberal city and Mr. Wheeler was probably concerned that cracking down on Antifa would hurt his political career. Many of the Antifa protesters and their supporters are likely Portland voters who would exact their revenge on Mr. Wheeler at the ballot box. Still, what the country needs desperately at this moment is an act of political courage. Elected officials need to do their jobs and uphold the law, regardless of the consequences and regardless of the political affiliation of the rioters.

The scene in Portland was reminiscent of street brawling between German communists and Nazis in the 1920s. The comparison is especially apt since one of Mr. Ngo’s photos shows the Antifa radicals carrying a Soviet flag. In Weimar Germany, street brawling by party hooligans helped to undermine the authority of the unpopular government.

It isn’t a question of which group is right and which is wrong. Both are operating outside the law and looking for a fight. Allowing paramilitary fighters free rein delegitimizes the government and strengthens radicals of both sides. The city government should be conducting mass arrests of anyone involved in the street fighting and prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law. If the city government cannot control the situation, they should request assistance from the National Guard.

Mayor Wheeler’s lack of response to the violence in Portland is a show of weakness that will only encourage both groups to further violence. Both sides are undermining the authority of the government and contributing to the general atmosphere of anger and fear that seems to permeate American politics. It is up to civic leaders like Mayor Wheeler to earn their pay and secure their cities.

Originally published on The Resurgent