The Daily Signal - Portland Has Been Rioting Since May. Is There an End in Sight?

Episode Date: August 27, 2020

Portland, Oregon, is three months into rioting after the May 25 death of George Floyd with no end in sight. What do you think is the driving force behind the continued violence? The far-left anarchist group Antifa has been behind a lot of the violence in Portland. How is the situation developing? Lora Reis, a senior research fellow for homeland security at The Heritage Foundation, joins the podcast to discuss it.  We also cover these stories: Two people are dead and a third was badly wounded after a third night of violence Tuesday and into Wednesday morning in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man. Julia Jackson—the mother of Blake, the 29-year-old man shot multiple times by police Sunday in Kenosha—had harsh words for rioters in an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon, and she also apologized to President Donald Trump for missing his call.  Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers turned down federal assistance to curb the violence in Kenosha.  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 Thursday, August 27th. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Rachel Del Judas. Riots have been ongoing in Portland since the death of George Floyd on May 25th. Is there an end in sight? Laura Reese, a senior research fellow for Homeland Security at the Heritage Foundation, joins me on the podcast to discuss. 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 encourage others to subscribe. Now onto our top news. Two people are dead and another badly wounded after a third night of violence Tuesday

and into Wednesday morning in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man. A video posted on Twitter by Brendan Gutenshweger shows a man with a long gun being chased down the street Tuesday night. The man stumbles and falls and fires his weapon multiple times at those pursuing him, resulting in the death of two individuals and the injury of a third. Police in Antioch, Illinois, arrested the 17-year-old boy allegedly associated with the shooting on Wednesday morning. The Wisconsin arrest warrant charges the teen with first-degree intentional homicide.

According to investigators, the violence may have erupted from a conflict between rioters and self-style militia guarding local businesses. The mother of Jacob Blake, Julia Jackson, the 29th, year old man who is shot multiple times by police Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, had harsh words for rioters in an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, and also apologized to President Trump for missing his phone call. Here's what she said via CNN. The destruction that has been taking place in cities across the country and in Kenosha. I heard you speak about that. And my question is, you said that you don't want that in Jacob's name and neither would he. Tell me, more about that, please?

Absolutely not. My family and I are very hurt and quite frankly disgusted. And as his mother, please don't burn up property and cause havoc and tear your own

homes down in my son's name. You shouldn't do it. People shouldn't do it anyway. But to use my child or any other mother or father's child, our tragedy, to react in that manner is just not acceptable. And it's not helping Jacob. It's not helping Jacob or any other of the men or women who has suffered in these areas. Do you have anything to say, Ms. Jackson, to the politicians who are out there or anything you want to say?

To the presidents or the candidates or to Trump or Biden or anything like that? For our President Trump, first, I want to say a family member, and I don't know if it was heard or not, said something that was not kind. She is hurting, and I do apologize to that. Our outbursts that does not reflect our behavior. And then also for President Trump, I'm sorry I missed your call, because had I not missed your call, maybe the comments that you made would have been different. And I'm not mad at you at all.

I have most respect for you as the leader of our country. Like I said before, and I'm not saying this to him directly, we should always get the details from the right source before we start throwing bricks. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers turned down federal assistance to put down the violence in Kenosha. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and press. President Trump spoke with Evers on Tuesday and offered federal assistance.

Ivers turned down the help because he had already increased National Guard members from 125 to 250. Britt Kudabak, a spokeswoman for Evers, said the governor informed them that we would be increasing Wisconsin National Guard support in Kenosha and therefore would not need federal assistance in response to protests, but would welcome additional federal support and research. sources for our state's response to COVID-19. Meadows joined Fox News Tucker Carlson on Tuesday night and lamented Evers' choice not to allow the federal government to provide the city with more support to end the violence. Meadows said, you have to make sure you have enough people on the ground to not let the rioting go. Listen, we have a First Amendment right that allows you to

peacefully protest, but you do not have a First Amendment right to and to riot. A U.S. Appeals Court in Richmond, Virginia, has sided with a transgender student who was born female and now identifies as male in a suit against the Gloucester County School Board, ruling that the school acted wrongly in not allowing the student, born a girl, to use the boys' bathroom. The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday two to one that the student, Gavin Grimm, who sued the school in 2015, is protected under federal law that bans discriminatory in regards to sex and education as well as the Constitution's mandate that people be treated equally under the law, Reuters reported. Black Lives Matter demonstrators accosted outdoor

diners in Washington, D.C. on Monday. A large crowd of protesters approached restaurant patrons eating outside and demanded they raised their fists in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Multiple videos of the chaos went viral on social media Tuesday and showed that the demonstrators chanting white silence is violence and no justice, no peace. The protests became hostile when diners would not raise their fists. Lauren Victor, one of the diners who refused to raise her fist, even while a woman shouted it in her face, asking accusingly if she was a Christian, told the Washington Post that something felt wrong about being forced to raise her fist, but said she has been marching with protesters for weeks and is very much with them.

Now stay tuned for my conversation with Laura Reese on the ongoing writing in Portland. Do you have an interest in public policy? Do you want to hear some of the biggest names in American politics speak? Every day, the Heritage Foundation hosts webinars called Heritage Events Live. webinar topics range from ethics during the COVID-19 pandemic to the CARES Act and the economy. These webinars are free and open to the public. To find the latest webinars and register, visit heritage.org slash events. I'm joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Laura Reese.

She's a Senior Research Fellow for Homeland Security at the Heritage Foundation. Laura, it's great to have you back on the Daily Signal podcast. Thank you for having me again. Well, thanks for being with us. When we had you on the podcast at the end of July, we were talking about what was happening in Portland, the riots there. Can you give us an update? Has any of the violence subsided in the past weeks? It's still going on. It tends to move around the city. Looking at today's Portland Police Report, for example, it talks about rioters and arsonists attempting to set City Hall on fire.

And the Portland police are really strapped. They are, they're low and. numbers, the police department has said they had only 30 officers available for protest because they are also having to protect their own police precinct buildings where those buildings are also under attack. And unfortunately, the Oregon State Police have left Portland because they were so frustrated that the district attorney there is refusing to prosecute these rioters who the police are arresting. So the Oregon State Police have moved their resources back to counties where they say prosecution of criminal conduct is still a priority. Have there been any sort of reaction to that from the media there, even from citizens, because that is a big deal? I think slowly more Americans and are speaking up about this.

And thank goodness for the citizen journalists who are out there in far too few number, but showing, what's really going on. But little by little, I think more mainstream media is starting to realize that this is getting out of control. I mean, for example, just, I believe it was yesterday on CNN, Don Lemon said, the riots now have to stop because they're showing up in the polls and in focus groups, which is quite an admission, but also very perverse. He's not saying it has to stop because lives and businesses are being destroyed, he's saying it has to stop because the left is being hurt politically. It's sick. Well, given that these riots now have been going on for three months now, what do you think is the driving force behind the continued violence? Again, I think there is,

there are organized groups that are well-funded and that are keeping this going and that are arming these very angry young, violent rioters, whether it's Antifa, it's Black Lives Matter, it's unorganized entities, and it's just individuals. It's kind of a cauldron, a variety of people committing these acts. They seem intent on doing this up until the election, and then depending on the results of the election, beyond, if they don't get the results that they want. be interesting to watch, given Don Lemon's account statement yesterday, will this simmer down at all? Well, given Laura, you mentioned Antifa, what is going on with Antifa specifically? Has the situation developed with them? Have they been emboldened, would you say, looking at from when the right it started to right now in Antifa's involvement, how would you say on a scale, have they gotten less intense or have they just become more and more bold?

They've become more bold because the political leaders have been so passive about it and permissive. And if there aren't consequences for these actions, the riots will continue and they will escalate. And we do see escalation here. We see people being seriously hurt and even killed. And until the leadership brings a stop to it and restores order by letting the police do their jobs by reinforcing them with National Guard, etc., this will continue to escalate. And I have to note an excellent piece by my colleague today by Jim Carapano. It's called Five Reasons Radicals Are Enboldened, and it's on foxnews.com, and it's really

worth a good read, and it talks about these groups being emboldened because the local officials are failing us, the media is failing us, and politicians. have failed us. Well, Fox News had a piece out on Wednesday with the headline Portland Police declare riot after protesters break windows, enter City Hall. Are these riots, Laura, as they're happening, it seems, and as you've said, that Portland law enforcement haven't been able to get it under control, even as they're now giving the admonition that these events are riots. The police, several nights now, have declared riots. They've declared unlawful assemblies, but it doesn't seem to matter. I mean, the violence occurs each night. Some arrests are made,

but they continue the next night. And we know that some of these rogue prosecutors are not prosecuting them for the crimes they're committing, and they're just going back out onto the street the next day. And so this is a never-ending cycle until leadership is, exercised and a real police presence can bring this to a stop. Laura, what would you say about the response of the governor of Oregon, Kate Brown? So, for example, yesterday she said, or she tweeted, it's time for the violence and vandalism to end. So Portland can focus on important work to be done to achieve real change for racial justice. This has been going on under her leadership or lack of leadership for nearly three months.

sure why now she's just saying it's time for the violence to end and the vandalism to end. It's been quite clear that none of this violence has advanced racial justice or helped a black life. It has been damaging communities and businesses. So it's unfortunately too little too late, but hopefully we'll see that these leaders will start letting law enforcement do their jobs so that they can restore order. What about the response of the state and local leaders in Oregon? It seems to be quiet. I mean, hopefully they're turning the corner.

Hopefully they're realizing, you know, enough is enough. But again, these night after night after night for almost three months, it's still going on. So we're not seeing the results yet. Well, Oregon Public Broadcasting had a piece out this week that was headlined Portland's protests, three months in, no end in sight. Laura, do you see an end in sight? And what would that look like? I don't see an end in sight.

It would look like one night without riots, without this violence. And then after that, consecutive nights without this violence. And unfortunately, we're just not seeing that yet. Before we wrap up, let's talk about Wisconsin very briefly. I know the Trump administration had said reportedly that the Democrat government Wisconsin, Tony Evers, turned down federal help there to quell riots that have sprung up in Kenosha. What is happening there and what is your perspective on all of that? Kenosha is now three nights in and there does seem to be a willingness to not mirror Portland.

For example, the Kenosha board sent a letter to the governor asking that he permit the National Guard to come in. There seems to be conflict. information right now about the National Guard going into Wisconsin, but at least there's a willingness for additional law enforcement to come in and to restore order. One difference here, however, now given last night's shootings, I'm anticipating that those on the left are going to start blaming so-called vigilantes for the violence and for death, which would give cover to Black Lives Matter and Antifa and these other groups that have been committing this violence night after night after night in Portland and elsewhere. But the bottom line is people want to be safe.

They don't want their businesses burn to the ground. And if the leaders did their number one job of protecting citizens and property, none of this would be happening. Well, Laura, what would you say to state and local leaders in places like Portland and Kenosha, even others, where they might be faced with violence and they may be in a city or an area where law enforcement has seen maybe a decrease in funding. What would you say to them as they try to do right by the people of their cities? To ask for more help. If they don't have enough police due to budgets, bring in the National Guard, seek help from other law enforcement so that they can maintain law and order. Well, Laura, thank you so much for joining.

us and giving us an update on what's happening in Portland and elsewhere. We appreciate having you. Thank you. 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, or wherever you listen. And 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 Geinie, and John Pop. For more information, visit DailySignal.com.