Trump showcased federal power in Portland, making a culture war campaign pitch
Still restive, the West Coast city with a long tradition of protest as a subculture of anarchism was staging peaceful mobilizations as well as smaller nightly clashes with authorities. Militant black-clad demonstrators were directing their anger at a large federal courthouse downtown.pandemic, Trump seized a chance to appear as a field general in a wider American cultural conflict over racial justice, police misconduct and the reexamination of American history and monuments.
Trump’s campaign officials say that the president wants to amplify his law-and-order message to show he is a last bastion of safety for a reeling American public, and that U.S. cities ravaged by crime and unrest — which also happen to be heavily Democratic — are the right venue. Trump has pushed for a Portland-style deployment in Chicago, one official said, but city officials made clear they prefer working with the FBI and other Justice Department agencies over DHS, whose reputation has suffered from its central role in Trump’s domestic policy agenda.
The responsibility for guarding the building during protests usually falls to the FPS and the U.S. Marshals Service, but the agencies asked for reinforcements ahead of the July 4 holiday, fearing an uptick in vandalism and violence, according to Homeland Security and Justice Department officials. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler first heard about increased federal presence from officials in the Portland Police Bureau as the agency began its preparations to secure protests and events around July 4, spokeswoman Eileen Park said. Though Wheeler also serves as the city’s police commissioner, he said he was not consulted by Trump or Homeland Security officials before the federal government deployed agents to the city.
CBP also began using some of the detention cell space inside the courthouse — jail cells normally run by the Marshals Service — to detain and question suspects, according to officials familiar with the matter. At least 43 suspects have been arrested by federal agents in Portland so far, Wolf said this week.
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