The Daily Signal - He Went to the Scene of the Shooting in Portland. Here’s What He Saw.

Episode Date: September 1, 2020

Gabe Johnson was sitting in his apartment Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, when he heard the gunshots that took the life of a man later identified as Aaron "Jay" Danielson.  Johnson, a Marine Corps veteran and Portland local, has watched the violence unfold in his city over the past three months. He also watched with frustration as the media often failed to report what is actually happening there.  After he heard the gunshots Saturday night, Johnson said, he was concerned that the media would not report the incident accurately, so he walked the four blocks to the scene of the crime to see the situation firsthand.  Johnson joins the podcast to explain what he witnessed and what it has been like living so close to the ongoing riots in Portland. Click here to support Johnson's fundraiser for police chaplains in and around Portland, Oregon. We also cover these stories:  President Trump is going to Wisconsin despite a request by Gov. Tony Evers that he not visit the state. The case of former national security adviser Michael Flynn will continue to weave its way through the courts.  The number of coronavirus cases reported in the United States is now over 6 million. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, September 1st. I'm Kate Trinco. And I'm Virginia Allen. Portland has now experienced more than three months of riots and demonstrations. Marine veteran Gabe Johnson lives only a few blocks from the Portland courthouse where so much of the violence has occurred. Johnson joins the podcast to describe his own encounter with Antifa, the fatal shooting on Saturday night. and what it has been like living amidst the chaos that he describes as a war zone. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts,

and please encourage others to subscribe. Now, on to our top news. President Trump is headed to Wisconsin today. Democrat Governor Tony Evers had asked Trump not to come to the state, which is facing riots and unrest in Kenosia. In a letter to Trump, Evers wrote, according to the La Crosse ABC affiliate station, I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together. Trump tweeted Monday,

If I didn't insist on having the National Guard activate and go into Kenosha, Wisconsin, there would be no Kenosha right now. Also, there would have been Great Death and... injury. I want to thank law enforcement and the National Guard. I will see you on Tuesday. Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's case will continue to weave its way through the courts. In June, a three-judge panel on the Third Circuit had said Flynn's case should be dismissed, following the Justice Department dropping the charges against Flynn. But a district judge, Emmett Sullivan refused to dismiss the case because the DOJ said it was no longer pursuing it.

Flynn's lawyers are arguing that Sullivan needs to dismiss the case because of the DOJ's actions. But in a new 8 to 2 ruling, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals said that Sullivan is fine to keep the Flynn case ongoing, overturning the earlier decision that said Sullivan had to dismiss the case. Now, Flynn's only course of appeal is to the Supreme Court. Judge Naomi Rao, who ruled for overturning the case both in the three-judge panel and in the larger judge panel, wrote per CNN, in Flynn's case, the prosecution no longer has a prosecutor. Yet the case continues with district court proceedings aimed at uncovering the internal deliberations of the department. Another sad coronavirus milestone, the U.S. has hit over 6 million cases, according to the tracker from Johns Hopkins University. There have been 183,000 deaths in the U.S. because of COVID-19. The state with the highest number of deaths is New York, with just under 33,000 deaths. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Marine Veteran and Portland local Gabe Johnson.

as we discuss the shooting in Portland on Saturday night and what local leaders should do to stop the violence. Americans have almost entirely forgotten their history. That's right, and if we want to keep our republic, this needs to change. I'm Jared Stepman. And I'm Fred Lucas. We host the Right Side of History, a podcast dedicated to restoring informed patriotism and busting the negative narratives about America's past.

Hollywood, the media, and academia have failed a generation. We're here to set the right. record straight on the ideas and people who've made this country great. Subscribe to the right side of history on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, and Stitcher today. I am joined by Gabe Johnson, a Marine veteran and Portland local. Gabe, thanks so much for coming on the show today. Hey, you're very welcome. So Gabe, we had the pleasure of speaking on Friday, and you told me in detail really what

it's been like to live just a few blocks away from the courthouse in Portland while there's been so much unrest. And you began going down to the riots in July because you wanted to see for yourself what was actually happening. What made you say in July, I have to go down there and see this for myself? Well, in July, it seems like almost a year ago, it seems like the stuff's been going on so long. But in July, I had been laying in bed and after about 20 explosions, I decided that, you know, hey, let me just count how many, you know, are going to go off tonight, not realizing that I would get to about 82 before I stopped counting. And along the way, I close my eyes just, you know, because I'm like, gosh, you know, this really feels familiar.

And I say feels because being a veteran and being in, you know, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, and then going back as a contractor, it felt like I was back in Iraq, back in Missoules. And, you know, I'm in my bed. You know, it really didn't impact me until just then. And so more explosions continued to go off that night. And I just decided, you know, enough's enough. And, you know, I literally jumped out of bed, screaming, oh, my God. and I decided I'm going to just sleep on it and see what happened.

When I woke up in the morning, it just came to me that I really needed to just go out and do something. Whether it was start a conversation, do something, because what I'm seeing and hearing is just maddening. So I decided to, with a friend, go out and use the American flag as a form of unity, a form of just bringing people back together because one of the things that I've noticed is that just we as Americans, regardless of our political affiliation, a lot of us have given up our patriotism.

And I say a lot of us, I'm not including, I'm not including myself in that, but, you know, it definitely was a reminder that, gosh, you know, the thing that brings us back together is just American flag. And that hasn't been our symbol and people have just given it up. So I decided to,

that I would just go there and start a conversation. Not realizing just how far, I want to say as far as we come, but as far as we've just gone backwards being there because I was met with immediate, you know, hate. And I say hate, but hate from blacks, calling me, you know, the N-word and calling me a coon and calling me. me, Uncle Tom, and Gigaboo, and just saying that, you know, what the flag represents to them. Now, my duties are black youth that I was talking to, and I want to make the distinction because

I think that older black Americans may or may not feel that way, but the more that the ones that I've talked to that have really come out in support of me have been an older generation. So as I'm down there talking to some of the youth, and I was actually talking to this, gentleman who was asking me questions on the camera, this black and lady grabs my flag from me and runs down the street, throws it in the street, and I don't know, starts yelling something. This 65-year-old black man, veteran walks over, grabs my flag, and it's coming back and he's, you know, yelling. saying to me, you know, there's no way I'm going to let them burn the American flag. You know, he had been there observing, listening for a while, hadn't said anything at all.

But when it came to burning the flag, that's where he, you know, I guess that's where he drew a line in the sand. So as he's coming back to me, he gets jumped by these, you know, these two black kids. Literally, a roundhouse punched him in the face. And as he hit the ground, they started stomping them. I run over there to assist this man and, you know, they run away. You know, as they're running, they grab the flag and they throw it over, you know, the huge fence that's in front of the federal courthouse. So there's just been so much division through this whole thing, whether it's, you know, black on black or, you know, unfortunately white on black crime. And the same, as we saw just, you know, occur over the weekend. You know, it doesn't really matter what race you are.

But this thing is definitely dividing our country. And so, you know, back in July, it doesn't seem like it's gotten any better since then. Yeah. No, Gabe, I mean, it's really, it's shocking to hear you tell this story. This is happening essentially in your backyard, just a few blocks away from where you live. you're, you know, you're simply carrying an American flag with you, a symbol that like you say, it should be this amazing symbol of unity in our country. And for so long, has been that symbol of unity. And you simply enter the scene with the flag and you're met with such hostility.

So I know that from that point, you know, you've really continued to kind of watch things closely in Portland and just pay very close attention to the way that the media is reporting on what's happening. So I want to ask you about Saturday night. Tragically, a man was shot on Saturday night amid all of the chaos and protests and rioting in Portland. How did you learn about the shooting? Well, let me start with on Friday, because this really for me started on Friday. And I said that because I wanted to see if there was any stark differences in two events that were going on last weekend. One was the NAACP March on Portland that went off on Friday. No problems. No protesting. No nothing. Just a march. There were a few Black Lives Matter people

and are mixed in with them, but nothing, you know, like you see in the carnage that goes on night after night after night downtown. So I make note of that. One rally, just fine, no problems. Going into Saturday, I literally sat down and was watching and texting a friend and were texting back and forth about the Trump rally. And we were actually pretty surprised. I mean, there were a lot of people, a lot of, you know, proud Americans out there in support of their president. and we get through the whole rally, and I say get through the whole thing, including them taking a detour and coming through downtown, at least part of them, wasn't all 600 vehicles,

about 100 vehicles that came through. And literally, KATU, so the local ABC affiliate, they dropped their helicopter feed. The CBS affiliate, they dropped their online news feed. then the feed from YouTube goes down. And we just made note of it like, yeah, okay, it's dusk. So it's right around like 7.45, almost 8 o'clock. About an hour later, I'm sitting on my couch and watching television,

and I hear two shots. And I'm thinking to myself, damn, you know, is that a gunfire? because, you know, unfortunately, I know distinctively what gunfire sounds like. And then it was followed up by, you know, two other explosions, which had to be some fireworks. So as I'm sitting there, I get a text message, and it's from one of my friends in law enforcement. And he's like, hey, someone just got shot four blocks from your house. And so I decided that, well, as much as I probably not a good idea, I would. want to go down simply to see if the story is going to be told accurately.

And I'm so glad that I did. I actually spent about two hours down at the scene talking to police officers, talking to the responders out or in the area. And then just kind of just getting an overall sense of the mood, the tone of the in the atmosphere. And one of the things that I, you know, and just absolutely appalled by is that there are actual people in the streets in Black Lives Matter attire saying that they're not sad that a fascist Nazi died tonight. And that's just wrong. That is just straight hate.

And those are the things that we hear from hate groups, day in and day out, year after year. You can't celebrate someone's death. I don't care what side of the fence that you sit on. But more importantly, what's highly upsetting is just the atmosphere that Ted Wheeler and our city, commissioner and our governor has allowed to, you know, take root in our city and the atmosphere's lawlessness. And this is a direct reflection of that, people dying in the street. Wow. So, I mean, there's still obviously a lot of information coming out about the shooting, about what led up to it, the details. But you're walking down there and you're saying that the atmosphere essentially is, it's not one of

sorrow and grief that a life was lost. It's people saying, no, this is right. Yeah, it's, this is right, and it's on video, and they're not sorry. And they're, you know, you look at all the videos that retweeted from that night. And there's people burning the American flag, you know, playing the song, you know, Dixie. And it's appalling. You can't sit here and one minute protest, injustice, and oppression of human beings. And then, at the, you know, very turn of a hat, celebrate somebody getting killed. You spoke with law enforcement. You said, what were they saying?

They were very, very careful about the information they could put out. They let me know that, again, someone had died close to my house, happens to be a friend of mine. And so, you know, and just honoring keeping information private, you know, it's generally very vague. And I'll keep it that way, too. What I can tell you in what was just put out is, unfortunately, you know, we're going to see this. And unfortunately, I'm going to see it a block from my house in Terry Stunk Plaza.

Actually, ironically, I was married there a few years ago. And there's going to be a proud boy protest going on. And these are the people that the prayer warriors, you know, are. a part of and you know that it's another it's another group that you know it isn't isn't kind so now we're going to have you know more hate groups combining and clashing in downtown Portland why because of the atmosphere that was created and I think this is something that can be totally that could have been totally avoided and I think it's it's it's something that may get lost but you know our elected officials chose to not to prosecute rioters, and they made that publicly known,

and they stood by that decision, and they took the police off the streets. So, again, a lawless atmosphere has just been created, and you can't just clean it up at the snap of a hat. Probably, you know, what's even more insulting, and I know I'm using that word a lot, is that the governor came out with a plan last night, and it's a unified law enforcement plan. And she goes on to explain to where, you know, Portland Public Police are going to get assistance from Washington County, from Clark County, from, you know, Gresham City Police.

So basically everyone in the metro area, all the departments in the metro area, are now going to assist Portland Police Department. earlier in the spring, the mayor took away the coverage. So if you're an officer and you come and you assist in Portland, you're not covered, meaning that your union, your insurance, protections that you have of the police officer are stripped outside of your jurisdiction. So they took those away. But miraculously, now that they're giving them back and assistance from the state police

to curtail the violence in the streets. So if she had this plan in her back pocket, where was it 90 days ago? And you actually had the privilege of participating in a city town hall in mid-August with various leaders from Portland, including Mayor Ted Wheeler. Tell me a little bit about that experience. The experience, I'll say, was just a little bit more eye-opening, more than what I had already experienced.

I didn't know that I would be, you know, one of two people there with the same view. you know however one of the things that Ted Wheeler extended at the very beginning of the town hall was an invitation for those in the community those people that are at the town hall to come and work with him on some of the solutions on going forward I emailed I called his office for about a week I didn't hear anything ironically the end of last week someone from KAC to you reached out to me and it was like the mayor's office would like your phone number and your email, your contact information because they'd like to invite you to some event that they're having. I don't know. I hadn't heard anything as of last Friday after this past weekend and

a lot of my remarks in the media. I don't, I really am not holding out for him to call me because I'm highly upset. And, you know, I blame him and I blame our city officials for a citizen of Oregon dying on the street regardless of the color. And one thing I do also want to note, and when this story first broke, the New York Times reported, and they had since done a correction. But the New York Times reported that a black man was shot and killed in the street by a Trump supporter. So you have reports that are coming out that from people that are on the ground that are giving false information to the media. And the media is just running with it without verifying any fact. And, you know, it's terrible because in the first 10 or 20 minutes after I got home,

I'm saying all this stuff about this black man being shot in the street when it wasn't even true. But, you know, it's almost like we want to see more blacks dying to further push this agenda along. And it's not one that I agree with. So in your opinion, what needs to happen today in order to bring that law in order back to the streets of Portland? The governor's first step, I mean, it's a good one. That does have to happen. and you do have to bring law and order back to the streets. You know, you're going to have to find a medium that will allow, you know,

city and state officials, community members to talk to some of these groups. And, you know, one of them is there's a great opportunity, but proud boys aren't coming until September 16th, I think, for their event. What an opportunity as a city leader to start a conversation with them and, you know, show some compassion for, you know, their cohort who just die. Regardless of you believe their beliefs or anything, you're going to have to show some compassion and understanding and try to de-escalate the situation because right now people want retaliation and those people are bound for retribution.

And so that's the first threat that we're going to see on our city. So we need to get out and talk to them. We also need to, you know, talk to these BLM and Antifa and really talk to the leaders and just put a pause on the protesting and the violence that we see day after day. And if that means instituting a curfew and, you know, all parts of the city and having, you know, a heavy police presence, then that's just what has to happen because you can't keep going on like this. It's going to escalate way out of control. Well, and you've decided personally that you want to do something to support the law enforcement in your community. Can you tell us a little bit about the fundraiser that you launched? Yeah, so me and Nine Line Apparel had, actually I went to them and had asked them about doing a promotion that would generate, you know, funding for the Portland Police Department.

in particular at the time it was solely for the Portland Police chaplains, which was further extended from my meeting with Sheriff Reese at the town hall. But nine line partnered with me in coming up with the design, and it says stand for justice. And a portion of the proceeds from the t-shirt, sweatshirts, the assortment of attire that they have come out with, will be given back as a donation to support, you know, chaplains in Multnomah County and Portland Public Police. So all together, there's 14 chaplains for Montgomery County and two for PPP.

And, you know, the chaplains aren't paid. The chaplains are kind of the first line of, you know, defense for police, whether it's just, hey, I'm having a business. bad day, I had a bad call, I need to discuss this, I want to get it off my mind, or, you know, simply they know that officers are in distress and they go out and seek them and take them out to dinner and lunches and, you know, whatever. And so since these, you know, acts of kindness are not funded, I really wanted to just, you know, do something kind. Like we need to, we need to do more kind things and put them out, you know, to the universe. And, and hopefully that will kind of change

some of the climate around here. But, you know, these people need support. And so again, nine line apparel, you know, partnered with me on this. We actually even extended this promotion through Monday. So again, you know, it's a way to just give back, you know, to humanity, but give back to our first responders too who need it the most. Well, we'll be sure to put a link for that fundraiser in today's show notes. So if any of our listeners are interested in buying a shirt and supporting these police chafflins, they can. But, Gabe, we just really want to thank you for speaking out and for essentially,

you sort of become this citizen journalist who's just, you're telling it like it is. You're reporting on what you're seeing. So thank you for being bold enough to do that. Yes, of course. And I think that if more citizens did this, then we wouldn't be getting gaslighted as much as that we are. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and now IHeartRadio.

Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening, and we'll be back with you all tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas, sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailysignal.com.