Recently, the Trump administration has sent federal agents onto the streets of Portland, Oregon, to violently confront protesters, many of whom have been peaceful. Trump administration officials have pointed to incidents of graffiti in the city as supposed evidence of the need for their intervention, but graffiti is a flimsy excuse for paramilitary violence against peaceful protesters — to put it very very lightly. In a new video ad, the anti-Trump Republicans behind The Lincoln Project take on the situation, proclaiming that “this is how it starts” and admonishing Americans to get ready to vote Trump out of office to help avoid four more years of this gratuitous, punitive violence.
Local authorities in Oregon, including the state’s Senators, have spoken out against the presence of the federal agents. The Trump administration has petulantly refused to remove them, while the agents inflict even more violence. Early this week, for instance, an incident went viral in which the federal officers in Portland broke the hand of a Navy veteran who was trying to speak to some of them.
The man who’s being called “Captain Portland” after stoically absorbing a beating last night by Federal officers is a 53-year-old Navy veteran named Chris David.
The former Navy CO wanted a word with them about their oath. They broke his hand in 2 places. https://t.co/whzbWRWvTZ
— Chad Loder (@chadloder) July 19, 2020
In the new Lincoln Project ad, a narrator says:
‘This is how it starts. A president out of control — as polls forecast his downfall, this is how it starts. In a small city far from the Beltway, shadowy men — no badges, no ID, deputized by a rogue Attorney General, sent so-called enemies of the state off the streets. This is how it starts. Without a warning or a warrant, heavily armed paramilitary units shove their targets into unmarked vans and race away. They fire on protesters with gas, flash grenades, and rubber bullets, and when the protesters put their hands in the air, they’re assaulted with clubs and fists. This is how it starts — faceless enforcers say you don’t have the right to protest. Now Trump’s bureaucrats are promising to send their thugs everywhere — your town, your neighborhood.’
They continue by addressing what needs to be done, commenting:
‘This is how it starts, and how freedom dies, unless we stand up, unless we speak out, unless we demand justice. Register and vote November 3rd, because if we don’t, we know how it ends.’
Watch the ad below:
Portland is how it starts. pic.twitter.com/RgWWRujfqy
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 19, 2020
Check out Twitter’s response to the ad below:
