Trump’s Federal Militias Escalate Violence in Portland

FEATURING ARUN GUPTA – President Donald Trump on Monday announced he would be sending more federal agents to Portland, Oregon to ostensibly protect the courthouse whose fence was breached by protesters. The new contingent of paramilitary forces will be 100 deputy U.S. Marshals according to a report in the Washington Post. They will join hundreds of Department of Homeland Security officers currently in Portland.

This past weekend saw thousands more residents of the northwestern liberal city show up in the thousands, to face federal agents in what has now turned into a war zone. Meanwhile several other cities including Seattle, Washington, Austin Texas, Aurora, Colorado, and LA and Oakland in California, held protests in solidarity with Portland. Trump says he will deploy up to 75,000 forces to American cities if he has to.

Arun Gupta is an investigative journalist who has written for the Washington Post, The Nation, Raw Story, The Guardian, and Jacobin. He is also a regular news correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali.