The Daily Signal - What's Really Going on in Portland, Explained

Episode Date: July 31, 2020

Riots have been ongoing in Portland for 62 consecutive days. What’s really going on? Should federal forces withdraw? Why hasn't Portland law enforcement been able to get this situation under control? Is it correct to characterize the violence we have seen occurring in Portland as a “myth” as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler did this week? Lora Reis, a senior research fellow for homeland security at The Heritage Foundation, joins The Daily Signal Podcast to discuss. We also cover these stories: President Trump suggested in a tweet that America may want to consider postponing the election in November due to COVID-19.  Trump told reporters that federal law enforcement was not on the cusp of leaving Portland. Herman Cain, who became well-known as a Republican candidate during the 2012 primary, has died. 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 Friday, July 31st. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Kate Trinco. Today, Rachel Del Judas talks with Heritage Foundation's senior research fellow, Laura Reese, about the violent riots in Portland and what's actually going on. 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. Bad news on the economic front. According to an advanced analysis from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. gross domestic product shrank at a shocking annualized rate of 32.9 percent, the highest rate since the 1940s, and the second quarter of 2020, when the lockdowns and other COVID-19 effects were being felt.

On the White House website, the Council of Economic Advisors wrote a post that stated there was hope for the rest of 2020. writing, recent measures indicate that some economic activity has already resumed. Utilizing monthly retail sales and industrial production data, both important gauges of growth, it is clear that the declines in March and April, the most acute period of nationwide lockdowns, were the motive force driving this historic contraction. As the country reopened, both indicators experienced a rebound in May and June. The forecast is for strong, real GDP growth in the third quarter. President Trump caused a stir in the media on Thursday when he suggested in a tweet that America may want to consider postponing the election in November due to COVID-19.

Trump tweeted with universal mail-in voting, not absentee voting, which is good. 2020 will be the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the election until people can properly, securely, and safely vote? A federal election has never been delayed, and it would take an act of Congress to do so. Republican lawmakers made it clear that the election will not be moved and will still take place on November 3rd. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio told reporters Thursday, the law is what it is. We're going to have an election that's legitimate. It's going to be credible. It's going to be the same as we've always done it. Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, echoed Rubio's remarks on a WNKY40 interview. Well, never in the history of the country through wars, depressions, and the Civil War, have we ever not had a federally scheduled election on time? And we'll find a way to do that again this November 3rd. President Donald Trump said that federal law. enforcement was not on the cusp of leaving Portland. Trump told reporters Thursday, we have the courthouse very well secured. Our people have done a fantastic job. You hear all sorts of reports about us leaving. We're not leaving until they've secured their city. We told the governor, we told the mayor, secure your city. If they don't secure their city soon, we have no choice.

We're going to have to go in and clean it out. We'll do it very easily. We're all prepared to do it. Former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama attended the funeral of Georgia Democratic Congressman John Lewis on Thursday. Lewis passed away from pancreatic cancer on July 17th and was the first African-American lawmaker to Lyon State in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. The funeral was held in Atlanta at Ebeney. or Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King had once preached. All three presidents had words of praise for the late congressman and civil rights leader. Bush honored the legacy of Lewis in remarks per CBS News. His lesson for us is that we must all keep ourselves open to the hearing,

open to hearing the call of love, the call of service, and the call to sacrifice for others. Listen, John and I had our disagreements, of course. But in the America, John Lewis fought for, and the America, I believe, in differences of opinion, are inevitable elements and evidence of democracy and action. We, the people, including congressmen and presidents, can have differing views on how to perfect our union, while sharing the conviction that our nation, however flawed, is at heart a good and noble one. We live in a better and nobler country today because of John Lewis and his abiding faith in the power of God, in the power of democracy, and in the power of love to lift us all to a higher ground. Herman Cain, who became well known as a Republican candidate during the 2012 primary, has died.

On Herman Cain.com, Dan Calabrese wrote, We knew when he was first hospitalized with COVID-19 that this was going to be a rough fight. He had trouble breathing and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. We all prayed that the initial meds they gave him would get his breathing back to normal. but it became clear pretty quickly that he was in for a battle. Kane, formerly the CEO of Godfather's Pizza, and famous among conservatives for his 999 tax plan, the 74. Next up, we'll have Rachel's interview about Portland's violence and what's going on.

What the heck is trickle-down economics? Does the military really need a space force? What is the meaning of American exceptionalism? I'm Michelle Cordero. I'm Tim Deshiel. and every week on the Heritage Explains podcast, we break down a hot button policy issue in the news at a 101 level. Through an entertaining mix of personal stories, media clips, music, and interviews,

we help you actually understand the issues. So do this. Subscribe to Heritage Explains on iTunes, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcast today. I'm joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Laura Reese. She's the Senior Research Fellow for Homeland Security at the Heritage Foundation. Laura, it's wonderful to have you on the Daily Signal podcast. Thank you for having me. Well, it's great to have you with us. Thanks for making the time. You recently had a Q&A article in the Daily Signal and you're talking about what's happening on the ground in Portland.

For our listeners who might not be seeing it on the news or obviously who aren't there, can you tell us what's going on and bring us up to speed on the latest? Sure. So the Department of Homeland Security has a agency within it called the Federal Protective Service. And the function of the Federal Protective Service is to protect federal buildings and federal property throughout the country. There's about 9,000 such locations. Portland is no exception.

We have a federal courthouse in Portland, and the Federal Protective Service has been there since the building was erected, I believe, in over 12, 20 years ago. And what started out as peaceful protests in various cities throughout the country following George Floyd's death has been hijacked by criminal rioters, looters. It's really becoming evident that it's a criminal enterprise.

And Portland seems to be the hottest spot. in the U.S. right now for these criminal rioters. And they have been attacking for about 60 days, really 60 nights now, the federal courthouse and the federal officers that are located there, protecting the property and the building. So the Department of Homeland Security has increased the presence of federal officers there to protect that building and to protect the officers. and the violence continues by the rioters.

They are bringing dangerous weapons, such as lasers that they're shooting at the eyes of the officers. They're using Molotov cocktails, lots of dangerous weapons to assault these officers and damage the building. So Fox News had reported on Thursday that federal law enforcement had used tear gas again on the rioters because they were again swarming that courthouse. And it's been, I think, 62 consecutive days of protesting in the midst of this tentative agreement between Oregon officials and the Trump administration for federal law enforcement to pull back. What do you foresee to end up happening here? So yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf announced a tentative agreement with the governor of Oregon that state police will go into Portland and regain control

of the streets and the surrounding areas around the federal courthouse. This can prevent the riders from staging and planning their nightly attacks. So if that is successful, and if the governor holds up her end of the bargain, then these riots should stop and some order can be restored to Portland. And ultimately, then DHS can draw down the number of federal officers at that courthouse to the normal numbers that are usually there to protect the building. Well, up into this point, at least, why haven't the Portland law enforcement themselves been able to get the situation under control on their own? So the Portland law enforcement has their hands tied by the mayor of Portland and the other local politicians. They are turning a blind eye to the

rioting and the criminal attacks that are going on. They are allowing this to happen and going even further. They're blaming the federal agents there and labeling them as the ones who are provoking this situation when it is clearly the criminal rioters who have done this for 60 nights. It's clear if the rioters went home, there wouldn't be violence. The federal agents would be protecting that building and would the situation would restore to order. Looking at the past you know, past situations. Is there any sort of precedent for federal law enforcement to get involved in local policing like this?

There are federal laws and federal crimes against attacking federal officers, attacking federal property, damaging federal property. So federal authorities are fully in their right to arrest perpetrators who commit these federal crimes and to prosecute them. them. And federal agents are free to arrest them wherever they find such perpetrators. Oftentimes, they will make arrests either a few blocks away from the courthouse or perhaps hours later when things have settled down a little bit. But to be clear, these rioters are breaking federal laws and federal agents are in their right to arrest and prosecute them for those crimes.

Well, we've all seen allegations from some about how police in Portland are using unmarked cars and apprehending protesters and that law enforcement are not properly identified. Is this the case? So with respect to the cars, it is a typical law enforcement tactic of law enforcement at any level, state, local or federal, to use unmarked cars for some of their enforcement functions. with the situation in Portland, we have federal vehicles, law enforcement vehicles that are sought out and attacked. So it is logical that federal agents would be using unmarked cars in these situations for their own safety. And with respect to identifying themselves, the law enforcement officers have been wearing the same uniforms throughout this entire two-month period in front of the same crowd. they do in fact have patches that include their federal badges that would either represent Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Federal Protective Service.

Now they do not have their names written out on their uniforms because unfortunately these criminals are doxing these agents and releasing personal information about them, which puts them and their families in danger. They do, however, have on their uniforms a series of numbers and letters so that they can be identified. Well, so would you characterize the violence, Laura, we've seen occurring in Portland a myth as how Judiciary Chairman Dr. Nadler did last week, or how would you characterize it? It's absolutely not a myth. For this type of consistent and nightly series of attacks to go on is anything but ameth. This is real. Agents have been injured. Property has been damaged and destroyed. And Jerry Nadler's comment is indicative of politicians on the left at all levels,

whether it's in Portland or in Oregon or a federal government, ignoring what is really going on and trying to portray the federal police as the one. The one, the one, the ones, one's provoking the situation, and that's exactly backwards. These rioters are part of a criminal enterprise that include organizations like Black Lives Matter Global Network or Antifa, and these politicians are in line with some of these groups and are trying to portray the situation in a false light. And the media is complicit in this because on the one hand, you've got the media labeling these dangerous riots as merely peaceful protests. But at the same time, the media is also showing video of occasional, when necessary, the federal agents using riot tactics to get control over the situation. The media is playing that nonstop to make President Trump's America appear that it is out of control

and that police across the board are racist. So it's a concerted effort and it involves many parties, politicians and the media. So given that, what would you say or what do you think the message to people like Jerry Nadler should be who make comments like these that when they're investigated and when people are on the ground there reporting on what's going on. Like there's a very different reality. So I think the message should be to Americans that they are not getting the truth from either their political leadership or the mainstream media. And there needs to be a concerted communications effort from law enforcement, from political leaders who see what's really going on so that they can

encounter this false narrative by Jerry Nadler and others so that Americans know the truth and help bring a stop to the riots, not just in Portland, but in cities across the U.S. We've mentioned, Laura, how so much of this either has been underreported or just reported and not correct light. What do you think, looking at this whole situation, has been the most under-reported aspect about what's been going on in Portland? I would say the violent tactics that the rioters are using, that they are shooting lasers at the officer's eyes, that they are shooting mortar-style fireworks into the buildings while barricading the exits, which could kill the people inside the building, and that many officers have, in fact,

been injured from these attacks. So as we look forward into the future, what do you think should be the solution to solve the ongoing, basically, crisis that is happening in Portland right now? So I think it's a few things. First of all, the politicians and law enforcement need to protect their citizens and their property and the businesses. And in addition to that, The criminals who are committing these dangerous acts need to be investigated and prosecuted. Unfortunately, there are some rogue prosecutors in district attorney's offices throughout the country, funded by George Soros and others who don't believe in prosecuting some of these crimes. And so these rioters will get arrested again and again and then just release back onto the street,

because these rogue prosecutors refuse to prosecute them. So the bad actors from, you know, the thugs on the street throwing the Molotov cocktails all the way up to the leaders of these organizations and the funders need to be investigated and prosecuted for the crimes that they're committing. And then it's going to involve some recovery for the businesses and the cities that have been destroyed. And there needs to be some rebuilding going on of businesses and people's lives. And coming on the heels of stay-at-home orders due to COVID, it's just it really compounds the situation and how some of these communities have been hurt.

And unfortunately, it's typically the poor communities or minority businesses that are affected the most. And then finally, there needs to be a real communication. effort by objective media and law enforcement and politicians who see what's really happening here so that they can counter the narrative from the left. And lastly, Laura, this is somewhat of a hypothetical, but just looking at different possibilities that are out there, what do you think would be the worst case scenario for how this ends if it's not ended in a way that respects the rule of law? that an agent is killed.

And also, it's pretty clear that this criminal enterprise is intent on carrying this out through the election so that they provoke Americans to vote how they want them to vote. So the longer this goes on, it just destroys more property, more businesses, more livelihoods. Well, Laura, thank you so much for joining us on the Daily Signal podcast and really talking us through what's been happening in Portland. We appreciate having you. Thank you for having me. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal Podcast. Please be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify, and please leave us a review or a rating on Apple Podcasts to give us your feedback. Thanks again for listening, and Rob and I

will be back with you all on Monday. 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, visit DailySignal.com.