Let Portland Burn
At least leave it to its own devices and desires
There is no police power in the federal constitution. The police power is left to the states. To the extent the President can send federal officers into Portland, OR, it must be to protect federal buildings and laws.
The President cannot save Portland from itself and he should not.
I want a mask mandate, but there is no federal police power for the President to impose it. It must come from governors, who have way more expansive police powers than your average libertarian-leaning person would have you believe.
The President does not have that power.
But, beyond that, the people of Portland have a history of outlandish displays of protest and behavior, including nudity. The place is so bizarre there’s been an entire television show parodying Portland.
By sending federal troops to Portland, OR, the President and federal government are allowing Portland not just escape from their own democratic choices, but also allowing them a scapegoat to take the blame.
Portland can blame President Trump instead of the residents of the city. They can blame Washington instead of their mayor.
At some point, we must allow people to live with their choices and make it easy for those who want to escape to actually move. If we allow Portland to fester as it wants, it will either figure out it must change, or live with its consequences.
When people move out, the tax base collapses, and crime goes up, the people will either change their behavior or be democratically marginalized in their voting power. If life goes on as normal or more people move in to embrace what is happening, then they’ve chosen it or the problems have been exaggerated by conservatives, as they claim.
Let the market decision by letting the actions of a free people control their fate.
The President should withdraw from Portland immediately and let the city burn, if it will, or thrive if it will, but it is the choice of the people there.
A President sending in a police force to a city is a dangerous precedent that will be expanded upon even though the United States Constitution lacks a general police power. A city allowed to chose its own fate is a positive precedent from which we can all draw lessons.
Let Portland burn or not, but let it decide without intervention from Washington.
In general local police are responsible for policing their areas. However, I don't believe this applies to federal buildings or federal property. For example, if you try to enter a federal court house and behave in ways the federal guards deem unacceptable, I believe federal officers will arrest you without blinking. I just heard that last night the Portland rioters continued to damage a federal building removing plywood that was put up to protect it, breaking glass to enter it illegally and starting fires inside. That is certainly a federal crime and it should be prosecuted by federal law enforcement officials. If the Democratic politicians want to allow rioters destroy their own cities, I agree Trump should stay out of it, unless governors request the national guard be sent in. But even if protecting federal property is not the right thing to do politically, it is the right thing to do by the rule of law, and that is what principled conservatives and moral citizens are supposed to support, regardless of how much they dislike Trump.
It would just be nice to have republicans actually believe in local control, like they are supposed to.