An early Sunday morning tweet by President Trump reminds us that propaganda and disinformation are at the center of federal deployments to Portland. He refers to “anarchists” and “agitators,” and concludes “These were not merely protesters, these are the real deal!” The language of extremist elements seizing control of Portland had found more baroque expression in a Department of Homeland Security press release from late last week; “The city of Portland has been under siege for 47 straight days by a violent mob while local political leaders refuse to restore order to protect their city. Each night, lawless anarchists destroy and desecrate property, including the federal courthouse, and attack the brave law enforcement officers protecting it.” The statement went on to repeat the phrase “violent anarchists” dozens of times.
Portland is indeed under siege — though not by “violent anarchists,” but on the ground by lawless federal agents increasingly acting as a secret police force on behalf of the president; and in the media by a presidential disinformation campaign. We here in Portland have had particularly bad luck to be the test case for such extensive federal deployments, but the disinformation campaign that supports such actions has been nationwide. President Trump has consistently attempted to describe the social justice protests provoked by the killing of George Floyd as the work of anti-American extremists bent on violence and destruction. In denying the reality of a mass, peaceful movement for racial equality and an end to police violence, he affirms himself as the de facto head of a white supremacist, anti-democratic minority seeking to block the emergence of a more just and equal America.
The presence of federal agents in Portland, purportedly to protect federal property but clearly pushing their mandate into a mission to terrorize legitimate protestors, is the president’s propaganda campaign and warped racism made flesh. Committing violent acts against peaceful protestors who march in favor of civil rights and against police abuses, these acts constitute the president’s declaration of war against civil rights and civil society. And by themselves acting as the instigators of violence, the federal agents work to create the appearance of a reality that will lend credence to the president’s propaganda, most crucially by generating images of chaos on the streets that can be broadcast by the president’s re-election campaign and allied right-wing media.
The cruelty and absurdity of this escalating war on American citizens has been amply documented night after night. Federal agents tear gas, pepper spray, beat, and arrest non-violent protestors. Only in the addled fantasy life of our president and his rapidly-eroding base do these demonstrators constitute a crack squad of hardened criminals; one looks in vain for the A-Team of anarchists and antifa against whom only the most highly-trained and brutal forces of Homeland Security might stand a chance. What will be increasingly clear as time passes should already be clear enough for anyone willing to face the facts: the Trump administration has declared war on its own citizenry in the name of promoting white supremacism and the authoritarian aims of a president who is well on his way to suffering a catastrophic electoral defeat in November.