Donald Trump’s latest pledge to send the National Guard into Portland feels less like a response to a crisis and more like an unwanted sequel. The original deployment occurred in the summer of 2020, amid months of protests and recurring clashes near courthouses and police stations, some of which turned violent. The city saw a deadly incident that August when Michael Reinoehl, a self-proclaimed anti-fascist, shot and killed Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a member of the far-Right group Patriot Prayer. Reinoehl was subsequently killed by a US Marshals task force.
This time, the backdrop is far quieter: protests over ICE raids in 2025 are real but a fraction of the intensity of the George Floyd era. Plus, there are signs that Portland, like other blue cities, has quietly begun its own course correction.
A walk through of a pedestrian underpass in Portland..
How does a city end up this bad…!? pic.twitter.com/tzPKo4I8KV
— American AF (@iAnonPatriot) September 29, 2025
A brave patriot wearing a MAGA hat and carrying an American flag has arrived outside the ICE facility in Portland.
He said he came out after seeing my security guard and I getting surrounded by Antifa, and wanted to show his support.
Antifa immediately surrounded him. pic.twitter.com/eJQUHhvtrp
— Katie Daviscourt (@KatieDaviscourt) September 29, 2025
