Portland’s and Oregon’s leaders are right: don’t take the bait.
The deployment of federalized National Guard troops to our city is designed to provoke exactly the kind of confrontation that would justify their presence. We’ve already seen federal forces deliberately provoke violence in Portland. Portland’s own police chief has confirmed this pattern.
If troops arrive and find empty streets – no protests to disrupt, no confrontations to film, no chaos to broadcast – the deployment reveals itself for what it is: an authoritarian show of force with no legitimate purpose…