On September 27, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he was “directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland” and was “also authorizing Full Force, if necessary.”
Trump has additionally sent troops or surged Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — or threatened to do so — into several other cities led by Democratic mayors, including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Memphis, Chicago, Baltimore, and New York City, much to the delight of right-wing media. The deployment to Portland appears to be a fulfillment of a threat Trump made on September 5, during remarks where he said television coverage of the city brought it to his attention.
Conservative pundits have long fueled narratives around crime and disorder in Portland, especially during the George Floyd uprisings in the summer of 2020. One of the many right-wing media voices who called for Trump to use troops and federal forces on protesters in Portland that summer is now-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was a Fox & Friends Weekend co-host at the time.
The latest push by right-wing media to portray Portland as a city in “constant chaos” appears to have begun on September 2, when Fox News picked up video coverage of an anti-ICE protest captured by a reporter from the conservative website The Post Millennial.
That morning, Fox News host Lawrence Jones interviewed ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan over the Post Millennial reporter’s footage.
“So what’s the latest on the threat level against your offices? We saw overnight a clash with the protesters in Portland,” Jones asked. “They were attacking your officers, what are you guys doing on the ground to make sure they have the support that they need.”
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