Under Joe Biden’s presidency, America’s once-great cities began to rot from the inside out. New York, Chicago, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon, all followed the same script: defund police, excuse crime, and watch civic life collapse.
Portland, once a model of Pacific Northwest prosperity, has become the most vivid cautionary tale.
Trump’s push to restore order in Portland isn’t about partisanship. It’s about survival.
It started with the “defund the police” crusade that gutted local departments and drained morale. As funding vanished, crime surged. Car thefts and larceny skyrocketed. Homeless encampments spread through downtown streets. Affordable housing disappeared while drug addiction and lawlessness filled the gap.
Now, as the Trump administration reasserts control over immigration enforcement, Portland faces a new test — and its leaders are failing again.
Portland refuses to defend itself
President Donald Trump, working with border czar Tom Homan and ICE agents, has ordered the National Guard to assist in deporting violent illegal immigrants. Local officials should welcome the help. Instead, Portland’s leadership is digging in, treating federal officers as enemies rather than partners.
The result: chaos. Criminals have grown bolder, even trying to disarm police during encounters. Antifa radicals now stage nightly protests outside ICE facilities, and Portland police — undermanned and demoralized — stand by under orders not to arrest anyone.
It would almost be comical if it weren’t dangerous.
When ICE erected police tape around one facility to control the crowd, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson personally ordered it removed. His reasoning? It obstructed “public access.”
The message to violent agitators couldn’t be clearer: The city won’t stop you.
A hollowed-out police force
A recent video from the Portland Police Association confirmed what most residents already suspected. Staffing levels have cratered. Officers are stretched thin and forced to obey political directives instead of enforcing the law.
It raises a grim question: Are city leaders keeping arrest numbers low on purpose to make the situation look better than it is? If the statistics show fewer arrests, they can claim the city doesn’t need federal help — no matter how bad things actually get.
This charade mirrors what we’ve seen in other Democratic Party strongholds like Chicago: leaders protecting their image while citizens fend for themselves.
RELATED: Inside the Portland ICE facility under siege by Antifa extremists
Julio Rosas/Blaze Media
The lesson they refuse to learn
Trump’s push to restore order in Portland isn’t about partisanship. It’s about survival. Cities that refuse to defend their own citizens eventually lose them — to fear, flight, or despair.
Portland’s officials could start fixing this mess tomorrow. Hire more officers. Restore funding. Support police with proper gear and mental health resources (a must, in my eyes). Enforce the law equally and unapologetically.
But that would require courage — and courage is one thing the city’s leadership no longer has.
The bottom line is simple: Portland’s citizens and police deserve better than this political theater. The first duty of government is protection. The people of Portland are still waiting for their elected leaders to remember that.
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