Self-governance is messy. Always has been. The founders knew it would be. Freedom is complicated, noisy, and sometimes ugly. But what’s happening in Portland isn’t “freedom.” It’s a self-inflicted disaster—an experiment in chaos playing out like a horror film no onecan turn off.
President Trump saw it coming. Everyone—even his critics—knew that trying to help belligerent mayors and governors who despise him would be a fool’s errand. The irony is that he tried anyway. Out of genuine concern for American citizens being terrorized in their own neighborhoods, he authorized federal help. And now, thanks to a federal judge and a city allergic to sanity, the National Guard deployment meant to restore order in that war-ravaged city has been halted.
Portland’s leadership has spent years proving they’d rather coddle criminals than protect citizens. The city that once prided itself on quirky charm has devolved into a graffiti-coated, fentanyl-strewn, crime-infested cautionary tale. At this point, calling it a “hellhole” isn’t hyperbole—it’s a public service announcement.
Contrast that with Washington, D.C. Whatever your opinion of its politics, the capital city is relatively safe and functional these days. Why? Because under Trump, order was restored. Rioters were prosecuted. Police were backed. The rule of law was enforced. But in Portland, the rule of law is considered oppressive. There, the mayor and his friends seem to believe criminality is a form of creative expression.
President Trump has made no secret of what he wants for America: peace, safety, and prosperity for everyone—whether you live in a mansion or a modest walk-up. He wants kids to ride bikes without getting shot, families to sleep through the night without home invasions, and business owners to open shop without being looted by “activists” who chant slogans while stealing sneakers. Democrats running America’s urban disaster zones don’t share those priorities. Their policies reflect it.
Trump hates violence and murder. He says so out loud—and he means it. He hates chaos. He hates lawlessness. He hates watching good people suffer at the hands of bad actors. Those are good things to hate. They’re the very things a sane society should agree on. But the modern Left can’t even bring itself to condemn evil unless it polls well with the base.
So, by simple logic, if Trump stands for safety and order, and they oppose him at every turn, what does that make them? Supporters of disorder and danger. There’s no way around it. You can’t spend years defunding police, normalizing theft, emptying prisons, and demonizing anyone who enforces the law—and then claim to care about victims.
A moment from Fox News’ The Five last week captured the absurdity perfectly. Jesse Watters pointed out that Trump’s success in cleaning up crime has backed Democrats into a rhetorical corner. They now have to defend murder, assault, and criminal behavior just to differentiate themselves politically. And right on cue, Jessica Tarlov jumped in to do exactly that—condemning not the murderers, but the supposed “militarization” of American cities. Translation: she’d rather see chaos than cops. And that’s not a gaffe—it’s a governing philosophy.
The Portland situation is far from resolved. The judge’s order may stall the National Guard for now, but it won’t stop the rot eating away at the city’s core. Drug overdoses, assaults, arsons, and tent cities aren’t “expressions of discontent.” They’re symptoms of a leadership vacuum so profound that criminals have literally claimed turf.
And make no mistake—Portland didn’t “beg” for federal help. They spat in its face. They mocked Trump, ridiculed law enforcement, and treated the federal government as the enemy. They chose this. They wanted to prove they could handle it their way, without the “fascist” interference of a president who actually enforces the law. What they got instead was lawlessness, death, and despair.
The implications are clear—and they extend far beyond Portland. This is what happens when ideology outranks responsibility. This is what happens when leaders would rather signal virtue than enforce virtue. And this is what happens when hating Trump matters more than saving lives.
President Trump wants to protect you—your home, your business, your kids, your right to walk safely in your own neighborhood. He believes in law enforcement, accountability, and the moral clarity to call evil what it is. The Democrats running America’s crime capitals believe in none of that. They’d rather lecture you about empathy while the city burns down around them.
So the next time you hear a leftist mayor or activist whining about “Trump’s militarization,” remember what they’re really saying: they prefer the criminals to the cops. They’d rather lose their cities than admit Trump was right. And in Portland, they’re getting their wish—one broken window, one overdose, one murder at a time.
Because when you strip away the slogans and the spin, there are only two sides here: the side that wants peace, and the side that profits from chaos.
And it’s no mystery which side Portland has chosen.