Chilling thread. My fear is Trump will, if he senses he can get away with it, use the federal police-turned-invading army for blunt voter suppression. https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1284337917981274115

Cuccinelli's comments just confirm what I suspected after what McEnany said about Chicago: Trump is using Portland as the test city for what is likely what they hope is nationwide reign of terror on American cities before the election. https://twitter.com/ByBrianBennett/status/1283834770636644355

Why Portland? Well, as with the Confederate statues thing (which Trump is using as legal justification for the invasion), Trump takes his cues on what he thinks is good politics from neo-Nazis and other assorted fascists. The "alt-right" has been targeting Portland for years.

From the second Trump was elected, militia groups and fascistic clubs like the Proud Boys have been holding demonstrations in Portland with a clear and often bluntly stated goal of drawing out conflict with antifa counter-protesters, conflict they hope gets violent.

Portland seems like a weird choice for white supremacists to terrorize, since it's a super white city. (Portlandia didn't lie!) You'd think these racists would rather fuck with people of color. And I'm sure they would, but the choice of Portland is both tactical and historical.

Tactical: Portland's whiteness means that white supremacists who go there to start fights are both more likely to get one (disproportionate numbers of young white male leftists who are entranced with the idea of violent confrontation) and that the photos are more flattering.

The game of the fascist/white supremacist is gaslighting. They never admit they are racist or fascist. They try to draw you into arguments over whether they're "really" racist. And if they went to a black neighborhood to start fights, that removes deniability.

By picking fights with white leftists, the "alt right" (fascists) can pretend they're just defending "freedom of speech" or teaching "soy boys" a lesson or whatever. And they can grow their base, so that when they do make their move on people of color, they have more power.

The second reason is historical. One reason that Portland is so lily white is that Oregon has a long history of really noxious white supremacy and fascist sympathies. Here's a photo of the KKK meeting with Portland leaders in 1921. https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/kkk-meets-with-portland-leaders-1921/#.XxLgFfhKh24

Much of Oregon was outright controlled by the KKK in the 20s. The state literally banned black people for a time. And there's still a lot of hate groups and white supremacist thought throughout much of the state. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/racist-history-portland/492035/

The leftward turn in Portland in recent decades is, I suspect, experienced as a slap in the face by white supremacists. Which isn't to say that the city is perfect — white liberals have their own racism and Portland's lack of diversity and continued inequality is a result.

But even a shallow anti-racism is offensive to white supremacists. For one thing, Portland still votes for Democrats. For another, white liberalism rejects a lot of other right wing values that fascists love, especially sexism and homophobia. But most importantly....

That white liberals embrace anti-racism as a value (even if we fail to live it fully) is an important first step towards real change. White supremacists fear, correctly, that one day white liberals will finally give a serious listen to concerns of civil rights activists.

Which looks very much like it might actually be happening, at least on the policing front. (Housing and education still seem, sadly, pipe dreams.) Considering how valued law enforcement is to white supremacists, this is a double loaded threat.

Anyway, at risk of going on at length (too late!), let me just say that Portland was targeted in no small part because fascists want to "take back" a city they think belongs to them. And to punish white liberals they see as race traitors.