The “fact checkers” who pick apart Donald Trump on a daily basis took exception to this recent presidential overstatement: "Portland is burning to the ground, it’s insurrectionists all over the place." PolitiFact instructed that there’s a few arson convictions, but all the protests are “largely confined to a two-block area” outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.
Those two blocks can be brutal. The Washington Post wrote a front-page story on October 13 lamenting the “right-wing influencers” around the protests, and reality bubbled up: “But at night, the scene often turns violent, with leftist demonstrators exchanging blows with counterprotesters, at times shoving or spitting on federal law enforcement officers, lobbing fireworks and attacking conservative influencers and journalists.” That’s right. Conservative journalists get assaulted. Nick Sortor was even arrested after being assaulted.
Post reporters Robert Klemko and Joshua Partlow admitted the Portland police “have largely held back, stepping in sporadically to make targeted arrests rather than clearing the block, to the frustration of federal authorities.” Aaron Schmautz, head of the local police union, was quoted: “When you have city officials encouraging people to break the law…the politics betray the outcome.”
Contrast these facts with the propagandistic coverage of the October 13 New York Times. On the front page came this saccharine blurb: “The Sass Menagerie: To contrast the president’s dark talk about Portland, Ore., protesters are wearing colorful animal suits.”
Inside the paper, under colorful pictures of cutesy anti-fascists, the headline was “In Inflatable Animal Costumes, Protesters Are Keeping Portland Weird.” Online, the headline was also playful: “Among Portland Protests, It’s Frogs and Sharks and Bears, Oh My!”
The first paragraph from Times reporters/publicists Anna Griffin and Aaron West: “Animal costumes are the new black.” For Antifa. Get it? Under video of protesters blowing bubbles, the Times gushed: “In Portland 2025, whimsy and merriment have replaced the masked anarchist look of 2020.”
While Team Trump describes the protesters “as cruel, violent extremists bent on overthrowing the government,” they’re apparently losing the PR battle. “The scenes of colorful, oversize animals dancing to pop music under the stern gaze of federal agents in riot gear has altered the national conversation about the protests.”
That was the only use in this story of the word “extremist.” As usual, the ideological labels are missing – no uses of “leftist,” “socialist,” “progressive,” or even “liberal.” The protesters weren’t anti-anything. The only “anti” came in a mention of the liberal Anti-Defamation League. The only use of “antifa” came in quotes, as in a White House “round table on ‘antifa’ Wednesday.”
There were no Republican sources or “right-wing-influencers” or police union leaders quoted. The only sources promoted by Griffin and West were four leftists wearing inflatable costumes -- or in one case, a “chicken onesie” -- and a leftist journalism professor. Whitney Phillips is the author of the colorfully titled new book The Shadow Gospel: How Anti-Liberal Demonology Possessed US Religion, Media, and Politics. One blurb gushes it’s “Essential reading for understanding the systematic demonization of liberalism prevalent today.”
Anna Griffin made a Times video recently claiming the protests were “very peaceful.” It was headlined “How Portland Is Reacting to Trump’s National Guard Threat.” That’s what the “left-wing influencers” of our media are presenting. Their favorite protesters aren’t a “threat,” even as they attempt to block law-enforcement operations. Their side is wearing adorable, inflatable costumes.
Newspapers like The Times love to preach about crumbling “democratic norms,” but when Trump is elected president, attempts to restore law and order during violent protests are the “threat.” Deportations are the “threat.” Everything sounds upside-down and backwards when they write the “news.”
