Tipsheet

Woke and Broke: Antifa-Friendly Portland Bookstore Lays Off More Employees

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  November 04, 2025 2:00 PM

A few years ago, Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, made the news because they refused to sell copies of Andy Ngo's book, Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy. 

Ngo has done tremendous work chronicling Antifa's activities and reporting on members, including publishing their names and criminal records. Antifa, unsurprisingly, didn't like Ngo's book and staged a protest at the store.

Who are the fascists again?

Powell's tried, and failed, to walk a fine line between carrying the book and not ticking off Antifa. In a thread on X, they explained how the book came to their inventory and plans not to sell or promote it:

Unfortunately, the link to their "full commitment to free speech" is no longer active. We wonder why.

Now that the same bookstore is going through another round of layoffs, our sympathies are limited.

Here's more:

Powell’s Books has laid off even more employees after the company conducted previous rounds of layoffs earlier this year.

A spokesperson for Powell’s confirmed with KOIN 6 News that in October, the company laid off a total of 13 employees across its organization.

“These changes were not limited to our stores, the majority affected management and business services positions across departments,” said Jeremy Solly, a Powell’s spokesperson.

This month’s layoffs represent the company’s fourth round this year, with similar layoffs occurring in July, August and September, which impacted a total of 18 positions. This new round of layoffs brings the total number this year to 31 positions cut.

Imagine that. Living in a blue city with unfriendly business practices that is dominated by a terrorist group doesn't do well for business. We're not surprised the Antifa crowd isn't big on buying books, and catering to the mobs didn't generate new business for Powell's.

You get the government you vote for.

How did that work out for them?

It's likely that Ngo's book wouldn't have saved the business, but being open to selling all books to all customers wouldn't have hurt Powell's.

Where unions go, jobs usually don't.

A little over a month ago, journalist Nick Kristof took offense at President Trump calling Portland "hell" and Kristof's retort was the city has great Pinot Noir. That'll help fix things at Powell's.