Portland: The Truth About What’s Happening With Trump’s Deployment
The Full Story of the Lead Up to the Deployment
MS Note: Like many, I was caught by surprise by Trump’s sudden announcement yesterday that “troops” would be deployed to “war ravaged Portland” with authorization to use “full force.” I’ll admit it - I didn’t see it coming. Since the announcement, I’ve done a deep dive into the predicate for the announcement. It felt like it “came out of nowhere” — but it didn’t. There were signs. Here is a deeper look at what happened—and a look at Trump’s objectives with the deployment—objectives which have nothing to do with the stated reasons.
Timeline: A Look at What Led Up to Trump’s Announcement
It felt like it came out of nowhere but it didn’t. Trump had had his eye on Portland for awhile, and there were factors in play including Fox News deceptive reporting that were fueling what would eventually become Trump’s rationale. So the signs were there. It’s just that most of us were too consumed with the “flood the zone” overload of events to follow to be able to properly track what was unfolding in Portland over the summer. Here is a summary of what was happening there, leading up to Trump’s announcement:
On June 8, as hundreds of National Guard soldiers began patrolling downtown Los Angeles and the Pentagon prepared to send 2,000 Marines into the city, a protest broke out in Portland outside the South Waterfront ICE facility. What began as a small demonstration ended with three arrests for vandalism, the first recorded arrests in Portland’s 2025 protest cycle.
On June 14, Portland Police declared another protest outside the ICE facility a riot. Federal officers joined local police in crowd control, and three more arrests were made.
On June 15, Portland Police logged three additional arrests, further signaling that protests against ICE in Portland were taking on a nightly character.
On June 19, the police reported two more arrests, noting that the gathering was “largely lawful” but still ended in detentions. This would prove to be the last arrest made by Portland authorities during the summer’s protests.
On July 4, a confrontation at the ICE facility escalated into federal charges. The U.S. Attorney’s Office later announced that four defendants were charged with assaulting federal officers and damaging government property. These would be the last publicly documented federal charging actions before the September escalation.
(Comment: It’s easy to see why these small, simmering protests did not attract major national attention. No more than a dozen arrests total in June and early July — while the main focus was on Los Angeles and the deployments there.)
Throughout July and August, nightly demonstrations continued, usually small groups outside the ICE facility, sometimes costumed, sometimes confrontational, but rarely violent. Despite the persistence of the protests, there were no further arrests after June 19 and no new federal charges beyond the July 4 case. The protests faded from national coverage, leaving the conflict simmering just below the surface.
Over Labor Day weekend, protesters erected a makeshift guillotine outside the ICE facility. DHS responded with tear gas and pepper balls, a show of force that made for dramatic television. On Fox News, multiple segments aire including the one below — characterizing the largely peaceful protest as a “mob” and focusing on police restraint with the protestors as infringing on the rights of local residents. (Comment: Imagine Trump viewing this report and how it would manipulate him. Also there was another Fox report that mixed in 2020 violence footage with 2025 footage, deceptively heightening the vision of Portand out of control.)
On September 17, Portland city officials announced that ICE had violated the conditions of its land-use permit by detaining people longer than 12 hours — at least twenty-five separate violations in the past ten months. The 12-hour limit stems from the nature of the South Waterfront facility, approved as a short-term processing center rather than a long-term detention site. Records obtained through FOIA requests showed one detainee held for 47 days, a striking breach of the permit. The city signaled it was preparing to act, potentially revoking ICE’s right to operate at the facility.
On September 19, the Oregonian published video footage of federal agents beating nonviolent protesters and spraying chemicals at close range. Mayor Keith Wilson immediately demanded an investigation.
On September 22, Trump signed an executive order designating Antifa a “major terrorist organization,” elevating the protests from a local conflict into a national security issue.
On September 25, Trump sharpened his rhetoric, describing Portland demonstrators as “professional agitators and anarchists.”
On September 26, Oregon’s congressional delegation — Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, Representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Andrea Dexter, and Andrea Salinas — toured the ICE facility. They criticized ICE’s tactics and pressed for answers, only to be told to “ask the White House.” That same day, city leaders acknowledged a surge of federal officers at the facility and urged residents not to react. Meanwhile, Stephen Miller took to social media, declaring that a “campaign of terrorism” was underway and vowing that “all necessary resources” would be deployed.
On September 27, Trump made his move. In a Truth Social post he announced: “At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to provide all necessary Troops to protect war-ravaged Portland and any ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists… authorizing Full Force if necessary.” Almost immediately, Senator Wyden livestreamed from outside the ICE facility, showing an empty sidewalk — no protesters, no siege, no war.
Reading Trump’s Intent—and the Risks
Trump’s move looks less like crisis response and more like “flood the zone” agenda management with “distract from the Epstein files” at the top of his objectives. In the past week he has dominated news cycles with high profile actions and reactions that pushed the Epstein story into the background, even as Congress was releasing additional Epstein information: the UN speech with its “your countries are going to hell” line; the six day Kimmel blackout saga; and now Portland, framed as “war-ravaged” and “under siege.” Attention is finite — he’s filling it with the stories he wants, crowding out others, especially Epstein.
Portland is a symbolic target tailor-made for his base. In MAGA memory, Portland 2020 equals Antifa chaos; designating “Antifa” as a terrorist organization tees up the sequel and casts any local pushback as sedition. The White House and DHS then reinforce the script: press releases about “siege,” Stephen Miller’s blasts about “domestic terrorist sedition,” and a presidential order authorizing “Full Force.”
But the ground truth doesn’t match the pitch. Wyden’s livestream shows an empty ICE facility; local officials said the same. That dissonance isn’t trivial: when federal messaging and local reality diverge, trust erodes — and provocations can create the conflict they predict.
Beyond owning the bandwidth in a way that keeps Epstein in the background, Trump is also managing to do the following:
Reframe ICE’s local legal troubles as a national security crisis. Portland was preparing to penalize ICE for repeated permit violations. A federal “surge,” wrapped in terrorism language, flips the narrative from ICE under scrutiny to Portland under siege.
Stress-test a campaign trail script. “Antifa as terrorist org” + “troops to Portland” creates a portable narrative that can be deployed in other blue metros the moment local officials question ICE practices.
Los Angeles was Act 1 in the troop deployment saga. For a while it looked like Chicago would be Act II — but now we know it’s Portland. It’s important o keep in mind it’s a portable script: pick a blue-city symbol with 2020 baggage, declare an Antifa threat, move forces into the frame, and dare local officials to object — while national attention follows the show.
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It’s been quite a week. I hope everyone has a great Sunday. I’m going to try and watch some football and Ryder Cup and just chill a little bit. Thank you for your support here. We have made good progress this month—paid subscribers grew from 335 to 380 and there are still a few days left. I truly do want to grow this into a real publication rather than a side gig, and your support as paid subscribers is what makes it possible for me to allocate the time to do detailed, thoroughly researched and investigated reporting. Thanks again and have a great Sunday. Michael