Red State MAGA complains about Portland.

[OneBro]

I'm in Portland, Oregon. I got a call from a guy in a red state looking to buy something I offered online. I answered a few questions he had about the product, then out of the blue he says "How can you stay up there with all the rioting going on?" I assumed he was kidding and grinned, but before I could respond he started rambling about random vagrants and drunks joining in the riots and something about it all being organized by Democrats to win the election. When he finally took a breath I told him the protests against police abuse were mainly in downtown Portland and that some folks outside of Portland like to make it look worse than it is because it's easier to manipulate people who are either angry or afraid. He said he heard people were being killed and I told him it was true that someone from the pro-Trump caravan from outside of Portland had been killed, then he said didn't I think Trump should send "the feds" back into Portland to get control of things. I said if Portland wanted help from "the feds" our Governor would ask for it. I then asked him how he'd have felt if Obama had sent hired troops into his state and that seemed to chill him a bit.

It wasn't a hostile call (though I was growing angry), and the guy said he wasn't trying to be rude (I believe him), but I think his comments show how right-wing media has successfully hyped up their listeners and viewers to believe Trump is trying to save the country from rioters and looters. I wouldn't be shocked if the guy has NEVER heard of the name "George Floyd," and if he has, it would be in the context of Floyd being a terrorist rapist murdering animal torturer who deserved to be killed.

[CentralMass]

1. The guy that was killed was actually a long time resident.

On a side note having lived most of my 60 in New England, the rioting is over the top here.

[OneBro]

2. Thanks for the correction.

I just read an updated article.
Whenever there is rioting, I pretty much assume they are provocateurs trying to undermine the protests against police brutality. I’m sure some of it is righteous rage, but there have been plenty of examples of white supremacists unmasked as rioters.

[brush]

3. Rioting is "over the top" where?

[CentralMass]

4. Well, I came out here at the start of 2015. When tRrump won

in 2016 there was a huge riot.
After the Orange Anus won.
Here is a clip of some of it.

Note: I am on a cellphone and don't have the time but you can google and find video of most of the rioting of the last 3 months. Here is one article from about 2 months ago.

In these 2020 riots back on July 7th the Oregonian wrote this.

https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/07/city-multnomah-county-detail-violence-cost-of-repairs-damage-in-response-to-dont-shoot-portlands-motion-to-restrict-tear-gas-less-lethal-weapons.html
"Portland police and Multnomah County sheriff’s deputies have filed court documents that give a day-by-day accounting of their protest response over the last six weeks, including dozens of videos that show violence downtown, photos of broken windows to courthouses and businesses and a list of more than 100 fires set.

They estimated repair costs to public buildings approaching $300,000 so far and $4.8 million in property damage to businesses."

Your mileage may vary but I think it is over the top

[brush]

6. Rioting and peaceful demonstrations are not the same thing. Are you aware of the...

"Umbrella Man", the winger who calmly walked down a sidewalk and broke all the plate glass windows at "Auto Zone" in Minneapolis which spurred all the rioting and looting—he was IDed finally as a white supremacist. I would surmise that this guy is not the only thug (usually white and often from out of town) who show up at BLM and peaceful demonstrations to cause violence and thus discredit the demonstrators.
Wonder who funds these thugs?

https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-helped-ignite-george-floyd-riots-identified-white/story?id=72051536&fbclid=IwAR1J4DpyOuInwcSXYXogzZq3PMsBRePSkxe2sqdcjNyZwoVG440EJ0AWTIA

[CentralMass]

7. I am quite aware of the difference. There have been massive peaceful daytimei

BLM rallies and marches here. Then you have the out of control violence by a group bent on destruction. I can't comment on other cities but these are not plants by tRump here.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/meet-the-youth-liberation-front-the-militant-group-promoting-a-marathon-of-angry-portland-protests/

https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/06/who-is-the-pnw-youth-liberation-front-at-the-center-of-recent-portland-protests.html

[brush]

8. Yes, "plants by trump here". We're on the same page.

[CentralMass]

10. In Portland they are home grown anarchist types doing the destruction.

There were arrest with photographs posted online after of those 2016 riots posted and the group mentioned in the 2 article above have owned up to it in this last cycle. If you read their doctrine they believd in zero negotion with authorities.

[CentralMass]

11. I had omitted the "not" and have corrected it.

[Initech]

5. Yes my company has a branch office in downtown Portland.

And the people who work there that I have talked to have said that the media is blowing this way out of proportion. The actual protest zone is like 2 blocks wide. But if you were to watch Fox News or listen to any right wing media source, you would think that the whole city is on fire and every building was being destroyed and looted. The over exaggeration and whining coming from the right is really just making a bad situation worse.

[OneBro]

12. I got calls from relatives as though a nuclear bomb had wiped Portland out.

My relatives from California and Texas were calling in a panic, especially when Trump's rent-a-feds were in town acting like al Qaeda was parachuting on top of the federal building. Every since then it seems that white-wing media has fed their loyalists a steady diet of "Death and Mayhem on the Streets of Portland, Coming Soon to Your Town" unless they re-elect the fascist in the White House.