The Problem in Portland Isn’t the Law; It’s the Lawlessness via @davidharsanyi https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/the-problem-in-portland-isnt-the-law-its-the-lawlessness/

“If it were up to me, I’d leave Portland to the anarchists and their political accomplices. But federal law enforcement — including agencies such as the DEA, FBI, ICE, ATF, Department of Homeland Security, and Marshal Service — regularly operate across the country.

Sometimes they make arrests, and sometimes they do so after going undercover. This happens under every administration, every day, and it often happens for far less compelling reasons.

As far as we know, cops haven’t broken any laws in the streets of Portland. The protesters who cover their faces have broken tons.

With this in mind, it’s been instructive watching many of the same characters who cheer on governors who take undemocratic emergency powers and shut down houses of worship without the consent of the people—

— and who sometimes arrest Americans for playing Wiffle ball, attending church, or cutting hair — act as if policing portends the end of democracy.

The same people who incessantly clamor to empower the federal government when it suits their purposes now act as if protecting a federal courthouse is the Reichstag fire.

MSNBC’s @jheil says that Trump’s sending federal police into Portland is a “trial run” for using “force” to “steal this election.”

In a piece titled “Trump’s Occupation of American Cities Has Begun,” @michelleinbklyn , somehow still allowed to freely opine at the New York Times, says that “fascism” is already here. @SpeakerPelosi calls the police “stormtroopers” who are “kidnapping protesters.”

All of these contentions are ugly conspiracy theories, hyperbolic allegations meant to fuel partisan paranoia before an election.

Even if we accept the criticisms of law enforcement, the driving problem, and it’s been happening to various degrees in a number of major cities, is that mayors are allowing “protesters” to trample on public and private property.

They allow it because they share the same left-wing sensibilities. But protesting should never be a license to anarchy.”