These days, for me, it is about “No Kings” and “No Queens.” Just to be clear: I am not talking boroughs or bees or chess or drag. Just your old-fashioned female counterpart to a king—in this case, wannabe queens like Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, and Lindsey Halligan chosen by King Donald J. Trump. They are his accomplices, wreaking havoc and destroying democracy on his behalf.
Now, in case you have been waiting for the sign—yes, The Sign, not just any sign but your Paul Revere moment—well, I’m here to tell you the light is shining in the tower, and in the alternate universe where we all care deeply about tyranny, Paul Revere is riding this way.
It has recently dawned on me that it is no longer accurate to call those in power the Republicans. The fact is almost all of them have abandoned any belief in republicanism, or hold any affection for or allegiance to the republic. They far more resemble monarchists. And those they send into battle in our cities these days more resemble the redcoats. Meanwhile, those complicit in our courts like to pretend it is just about the unitary executive. So far as I can see, no one in MAGA has objected to Donald Trump’s AI portrayal of himself as the king or his desire and attempt to rule us all.
And just in case King Donald fails to install Eric, Don Jr., Ivanka, or Barron, JD rushed to prove his willingness to take the knee. His plea to succeed.
Donald’s sycophants in Washington and the MAGA authoritarians who have taken control of the Supreme Court are true believers. They are convinced democracy is inconvenient and worthy of replacement. With Project 2025 as their guide, they are dedicated to dismantling what they used to call the welfare state. But, really, it is the accumulated accomplishments of two centuries that have driven them nuts: the abolition of slavery, the right of women to vote, the union movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the struggles for a woman’s right to choose, and the rights of LGBTQ+ folks. The successful struggles of the ordinary men and women who do the real work that creates the wealth these folks hoard.
For the most part, the monarchists live a life separate from the rest of us. For a while there, Clarence Thomas tried as hard as he could to convince us he loved the campgrounds used by real people—until we learned he had been gifted a $267,230 luxury camper from a United Healthcare executive, a monarchist different from the billionaire who ferried him about on private jets and private yachts to private resorts and private islands. You think maybe Clarence has a conflict of interest?
Overwhelmed by an insatiable greed and utterly convinced they are special and smarter than us all, they are ever more determined to undo that hard-earned progress we have forced. They are committed to returning us to the days of wealthy white male privilege, with, of course, those few others whose skin is not white or might be female but have proven they will submit for a piece of the pie. So, say goodbye to voting rights and Roe v. Wade.
They have made their contempt perfectly clear. There is no need to hide these days. They have dispensed with politeness, empathy, compassion—those basic human decencies they corruptly labeled “politically correct.” They do not hesitate to spew their male chauvinism and their racism without regret or embarrassment. They lie with impunity and without shame. It was Lindsey Halligan’s job—before she was promoted to railroad Jim Comey and Letitia James to jail—to scrub the Smithsonian of any exhibit or evidence of American bigotry, cruelty, and greed. No slavery. No resistance. No Harriet Tubman. That she gladly complied to perform such a shameful task should have warned her compatriots of her inability to successfully take on such superior talents as Comey and James. But God knows Bondi, Noem, Blanche, and Trump are not the brightest of the authoritarians. They are no John Roberts, for example, who has used his intelligence and way with words to disguise his true intent.
Clearly, “No Kings Day” provoked them to no end and forced many of them to defend the monarchy and denounce democracy. As The Hill reported:
[Texas Gov. Abbott] claimed the protest was ‘antifa-linked’ but did not elaborate. KXAN reached out to the governor’s office for more clarity on how they determined it was antifa-linked, and we have not heard back yet … ‘Violence and destruction will never be tolerated in Texas,’ Abbott said. ‘Today, I directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas National Guard to deploy all necessary law enforcement officials and resources to ensure the safety of Austin residents. Texas will deter criminal mischief and work with local law enforcement to arrest anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property … The governor said troopers, special agents, Texas Rangers and Texas National Guard soldiers would be ‘surged’ to Austin. The governor’s office did not say how many personnel it planned to send.
‘These law enforcement officers and soldiers will be supported by aircraft and other tactical assets,’ a news release from Abbott’s team said. ‘DPS’ Homeland Security Division is actively monitoring the planned protest in Austin, as well as any other potential violent demonstrations across the state. DPS will investigate any links to known terrorist organizations and swiftly bring charges against those who engage in unlawful activity.’
You can imagine the disappointment as the MAGA monarchists watched in horror as millions showed their love of country and support for democracy in a remarkably peaceful way. Yes, Gov. Abbott’s surge was in vain, the soldiers and the aircrafts and tactical assets unnecessary:
MAGA was so desperate to hold onto the myth of Antifa, of anarchy and violence and destruction, that they bent over backwards to pretend that what had actually happened had not really happened. As if their alternate-facts mantra was not so very tired. According to FOX News:
President Donald Trump reacted Sunday night to global ‘No Kings Day’ protesters who filled streets around the world a day earlier, saying he is not a king and works his ‘ass off to make our country great.’ Trump made the comments to reporters before exiting Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews when asked about the weekend’s No Kings demonstrations.
Asked about the protests, Trump called them ‘a joke.’
FOX adds:
‘I looked at the people. They’re not representative of this country, and I looked at all the brand new signs paid for. I guess it was paid for by Soros and other radical left lunatics,’ the president said. ‘It looks like it was worth checking out. The demonstrations were very small, very ineffective and the people were whacked out. When you look at those people, those are not representative of the people of our country.’
Yes, emphasis on “our country.” His country. Their country.
Several of the MAGA leaders held a press conference on October 20, 2025, ostensibly about the federal shutdown and the impasse in Congress but really to criticize the Democratic minority and demonize those of their constituents who were among the 7 million peaceful demonstrators during the No Kings rallies. House Speaker Mike Johnson began:
The politics, the spectacle is what the mobs, the crowds, the rallies this week were all about. It was, it was, it was quite ironic though. The irony was, was very glaring. They called it the no kings rally, but the great irony, of course, that we pointed out over and over was that if President Trump was a king. The government would be open. If President Trump was a king, he would have closed the national parks and the National Mall, so he couldn’t have had the rally out here … This has always been about the spectacle. Chuck Schumer himself joined the spectacle in New York City, and it’s interesting to note his activities there. He was standing side by side, some of the most radical groups that maybe ever assembled on US soil. They openly advertised as co-sponsors of the event in New York City, the Communist Party USA, the Democrat Socialists of America, the Freedom Socialist Party, the Young Communist League of New York. Many others, do we need any further evidence? They’re not, they’re not hiding this. They’re out in the open. They’re not shy about it because this is the core constituency of the modern Democratic Party …
Then there is U.S. Rep Chip Roy from Texas:
It wasn’t President Trump, but Democrats who were burning our cities to the ground in 2020 and attacking police officers. It wasn’t President Trump, but it was Democrats who want to push boys into girls’ locker rooms who want to force surgeries upon children. It wasn’t President Trump, but Democrats who pushed fraudulent mail-in ballots in 2020 and left the elections in question … They weaponized the government against the American people, and now they want to turn around and say they’re going to have a no kings rally. This is the dying breast of a bankrupt party in my humble opinion, all too happy to shut down the government … The truth is we have a president. We don’t have a king. We have a president who loves our country, who rightly said yesterday that he’s working his off to make this country great. He is correct brokering peace deals in the Middle East, rebuilding our military, rooting out DEI and critical race theory, declaring cartels as terrorist organizations, focusing on Antifa, defunding the World Health Organization, getting us out of UNRWA. Making sure that we target the Southern Poverty Law Center who are, you know, going after people like our friends at the Family Research Council or ultimately Charlie Kirk. Securing the border, passing the Lake and Riley Act. These are the things the American people want us to do, not shutting down the government for political rallies. And the truth is, the Marxists, the radicals, and the Islamists, the Democratic Party promoted this weekend. They cannot handle the truth. The truth is that there is a king and that king is Jesus, and the president has been willing to say it. His administration has been willing to say it, and Charlie Kirk was willing to say it, and he got killed for it …We’re for law and order. We’re not for hate-filled lawlessness. We’re for common sense, not radical surgeries on our children without parental consent to say a boy can be a girl. We’re for a message of hope, hope born in the freedom of those who fought to give it to us through their blood and also through the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ.
What is also so very tired is the MAGA invocation of “law and order.” It is remarkable that Chip Roy can say, “We’re not for hate-filled lawlessness,” without choking. He is, after all, an accomplice to King Trump’s pardon of the January 6 mob who actually did engage in hate-filled brutality against the real enforcers of law and order, the Capitol and D.C. police.
As if MAGA—with the notable exception of two female representatives—has not actively enabled King Donald Trump and his queens to deny justice to Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking victims. As if all of them have not stayed silent as King Trump and Queen Bondi reward unanimously convicted Maxwell with a transfer out of a maximum security prison for her whitewashed assertion she was not complicit. So Chip Roy, who exactly is it who “cannot handle the truth.”
Yes, these guys are hilarious, spouting their pompous and predictable self-righteousness. Jeffrey Toobin in The New York Times details Donald Trump’s extensive record of pardoning those who broke the law, those who grifted and stole:
In recent years, Republican members of the House of Representatives have had a crime rate that seems comparable to that of the most perilous of American neighborhoods, at least going by the growing list of those granted clemency by President Trump.
The latest of these criminals/legislators to receive Mr. Trump’s largess is George Santos, the former congressman from Long Island. The president’s commutation meant that Mr. Santos was released from prison after serving 84 days of an 87-month sentence for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Over his two terms, Mr. Trump has pardoned or commuted the sentences of a raft of former Republican members of the House. Among those receiving such grants were Duke Cunningham, of California, who was convicted of taking over $2 million in bribes, among other crimes; Duncan Hunter, also of California, who pocketed thousands of dollars of campaign contributions and spent it on extramarital affairs; Rick Renzi, of Arizona, who was convicted of racketeering and extortion; Robin Hayes, of North Carolina, who lied to investigators in a bribery investigation; Chris Collins, of New York, who pleaded guilty to insider trading and false statements; Michael Grimm, also of New York, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and also admitted in court that he committed perjury and hired undocumented immigrants; John Rowland, of Connecticut, a former governor as well as congressman, who pleaded guilty to election fraud after going to prison years earlier in a separate scandal; and Steve Stockman, of Texas, who was released after serving only two years of a 10-year sentence for stealing upward of $1 million.
What do all these individuals have in common? Political support for President Trump. As Mr. Trump put it in his social media post announcing the latest commutation.
The lesson is clear, despite the protestations of the MAGA “lawmakers” in Trumpovia: Lawlessness is forgiven when the thief votes Trump. Toobin reminds us:
In short, presidential clemency is meant for those who deserve mercy.
Mr. Santos, for one, deserved none. He remains best known for the colorful falsehoods that he told about his personal and professional lives, from his nonexistent volleyball championships to his never-happened career at Goldman Sachs. But the crimes to which he pleaded guilty were more conventional. At its heart, the case was about his practice of using the credit card numbers of campaign contributors and others to purchase luxury goods for himself. He was a thief.
And Mr. Trump didn’t just spring Mr. Santos from prison after serving about 3 percent of his sentence; just as egregiously, he excused Mr. Santos from paying $370,000 in court-ordered restitution to the victims of his crimes.
So please, from now on, let’s laugh in the faces of those who have surrendered to King Donald and his utter disregard for the truth, for the law, for human decency. They stay silent as his theft of public funds grows more despicably transparent by the day. Remember the British nobles who were granted land and wealth for their submission.
Trump’s latest scam is based on the phony claim that he is entitled to a monstrously large compensation for the very proper investigations by the Department of Justice into his incitement of an insurrection and his stealing of top-secret documents. The Washington Post reports:
Ever since his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump has sat uncharacteristically silent in the face of a potential windfall of more than $100 million from U.S. taxpayers. As a private citizen, he claimed he was entitled to money to compensate him for what he calls politicized investigations he underwent. As president, he could now, in effect, order that government to pay him. If the payment came in the form of a settlement, the White House might be under no immediate legal obligation to disclose it to the public …
‘It’s interesting because I’m the one that makes a decision. And, you know, that decision would have to go across my desk,’ he said. ‘It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself …’ Under the law he used, the Federal Tort Claims Act, the Justice Department typically decides on whether to pay a claim against the government.
Nobody better understood the excesses of the monarchy than the Founders. Due process, the rights to counsel and to stand before a jury of one’s peers were matters of life and death—not matters to be debated or discarded by the privileged few, the MAGA majority of our courts who have become enamored of their ability to twist and distort the very meaning of the words and intentions of those who shed blood for our liberty.
The reality is that every day Donald Trump and his sycophants betray the very declaration that signaled our Founders’ willingness to fight and die to win independence from the Monarchy:
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
[Emphasis added.]
Maybe it’s just me, but many of these “Facts” seem remarkably relevant to what is happening to us today:
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people …
Talk about the multiple measures the majority has adopted to limit voting, to redistrict states to deny Black and brown Americans the opportunity to be fairly represented. Add the most recent attempt by MAGA Mike Johnson to shut down Congress rather than allow a vote to demand release of the Epstein files or restore drastic cuts to healthcare that will pay for their tax cut for the very wealthiest.
How about these “Facts”:
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world …
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences …
[Emphasis added.]
Let’s talk for a moment about the queen of phony law and order, she who has fleeced taxpayers wherever she has served: Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. Soon to be gifted two multi-million-dollar private jets. Who, at the urging of President Trump, has mobilized ICE to serve as MAGA’s version of the king’s red-coated standing army, clearly imposed without the consent of the legislatures of California, Illinois, and Oregon. Sending masked, heavily armed officers tasked to round up the most criminal and violent of immigrants—but all too often battling and arresting innocent civilians in Los Angeles, Chicago, Memphis, and Portland.
Having made life miserable for brown people in LA and Washington and communities across America, Portland has proven to be most problematic of all. More than the other occupations, many of the folks in Portland have resorted to a resistance focused on mockery. Clearly Kristi Noem never quite understood how weird and idiosyncratic they are in Portland. She probably never watched “Portlandia” on TV or saw immigrant Arvydas Sabonis or born-here Bill Walton, two of the greatest big men to ever play center for the finally champion Portland Trailblazers. They were magic before Magic.
With her inimitable lack of grace, Kristi Noem has continually insulted the leaders of Oregon and Portland alike. She still has not grasped how ironic her past statements appear in the context of her present aggression:
And, of course, there was that crystal-clear, chilling moment before Congress when Noem grievously twisted and misconstrued the bedrock principle of habeas corpus:
As The Washington Post reports:
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem appeared not to know what a key constitutional principle was Tuesday when being questioned about her department’s mass deportations of migrants at a Senate hearing.
Senator Maggie Hassan (D – New Hampshire): The White House Deputy Chief of Staff recently said that the Trump Administration is actively looking at suspending habeas corpus. Last week you were asked about this and I want to clarify your position because it’s obviously important to get this right. So Secretary Noem, what is habeas corpus?
Kristi Noem: Well habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the President is has to able to remove people from this country … and suspend their right to
Senator Hassan: No let me stop you ma’am, habeas corpus –excuse me, that’s incorrect
Kristi Noem: President Lincoln used it …
Senator Hassan: Excuse me …Habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people. If not for that protection the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens and hold them indefinitely for no reason. Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states, like North Korea.
Now here is where it all gets so very dangerous. Was Hassan exaggerating when she referenced North Korea? This new breed of home-grown monarchists are all too anxious and fully prepared to use violence to gain and maintain power. For most Americans, this is something they still cannot really imagine, and so it all seems close to preposterous. Of course, Americans who lived and suffered through the Civil War were forced to endure the consequences of the determination of the southern gentlemen to kill and die for the right to own and exploit their Black slaves. Such was the lure of the ever-so-powerful and -profitable elixir of superiority. Yes, theirs was a domestic monarchy of sorts, an authoritarianism so rewarding and intoxicating no moral argument could vanquish it. Only defeat on the battlefield ended slavery.
Now, Donald Trump, Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, Pete Hegseth, and Kash Patel, supported by their friends at Fox News, are waging an unrelenting propaganda war to convince Americans we are not living in a time of peace, but unrelenting war.
Remember the Declaration:
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power …
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.
And with the help of MAGA judges, “He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation.”
Their plan: First, the coordinated attempt to make us believe that there is uncontrolled chaos and violence in the streets of certain states and cities governed by Democrats, that ordinary civilians are not safe there, and that intervention by the federal government is necessary.
Not real predators like Ghislaine Maxwell and the wealthy, powerful co-conspirators whose names MAGA is hiding, or real criminals like the January 6 mob and George Santos whom Trump pardoned. No, our enemies are those brown people who left oppression and poverty to walk thousands of miles to try to become American.
Like the slaves of yore, these folks too, for the most part, are largely not white. And ICE, the current redcoat army of choice for the monarchy, has been going after as many brown people as possible, assuming that they are probably more guilty than not. Witness the multiple homemade videos of brown folks asserting without any impact that they are indeed American citizens.
Now, to be fair, there are some who have resorted to violently attacking ICE facilities. But there are certainly ways local and state police can deal with those threats. Meanwhile, I am not sure how they did it, but an incredibly small, entirely decentralized group of anarchists have managed to transform themselves into a force worthy of having war declared against them. Donald Trump, Kristi Noem, Kash Patel, and Karoline Leavitt have so elevated and hyped Antifa, it must shock the very few of them still willing to wear their all-black outfits in public:
I am guessing the overwhelming majority of Americans have never met or encountered a real-life member of Antifa. But because Donald Trump so desperately requires an all-powerful enemy, he has taken us to war with Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland.
As TIME reports, nobody who has taken the time to look at what’s really happening in Portland would describe the city that way:
President Donald Trump called Portland ‘war ravaged’ and described Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities as being ‘under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists’ when he announced that he was sending troops to the city.
His remarks come after demonstrators in Portland have gathered outside an ICE facility in Portland several times throughout the summer. But while authorities have deployed tear gas and shut down the facility for several days in response to the demonstrations, the protests have been largely peaceful.
[Emphasis added.]
In the court case filed against the administration, State of Oregon and the City of Portland v. Donald Trump et al, asking for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), Judge Immergut writes:
On June 7, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued a Memorandum broadly authorizing the federalization of National Guard service members under 10 U.S.C. § 12406, without specifying a designated location or duration. This Memorandum authorized federalized troops to temporarily protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’) and other federal employees ‘who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations.’ Declaration of Major General Timothy L. Rieger (‘Rieger Decl.’), Ex. D, ECF 37 at 20.
In the wake of this June 7, 2025 Memorandum, protests ensued at the ICE facility in Portland. From June 11th to June 25th, these protests included violent behavior and required an increased law enforcement presence by both the Portland Police Bureau (‘PPB’) and federal law enforcement agencies. After June 25, 2025, however, the protests were generally peaceful in nature with only sporadic incidents of violence and disruptive behavior. By late September, these protests typically involved twenty or fewer people.
[Emphasis added.]
This, then, is the critical issue: How real is the threat to public safety? State and city officials have been adamant that they have the ability to deal with sporadic protests. Judge Immergut acknowledges that the Portland Police Department was confident in their training and experience:
Plaintiffs present several witness declarations from local law enforcement officials detailing local and state law enforcement resources that stand ready to address unlawful conduct at protests in Portland. The primary local law enforcement agency in Portland is the Portland Police Bureau. PPB employs approximately 812 officers. Declaration of PPB Assistant Chief of Operations Craig Dobson (‘Dobson Decl.’), ECF 7 ¶ 7. All PPB officers are trained in crowd management and First Amendment law.
In addition, she notes:
The Oregon State Police is a partner with PPB. It responds to requests from local law enforcement for assistance. Declaration of Oregon State Police Criminal Investigations Captain Cameron Bailey (‘Bailey Decl.’), ECF 8 ¶ 11. Although Portland has not requested the Oregon State Police’s help with the current protests, the State Police stands ready to assist PPB should itso request. Id. ¶ 13. The Oregon State Police has approximately 700–800 sworn officers at any given time. Id. ¶ 5. The State Police trains every trooper on use of force, de-escalation, and crowd management. Id. ¶¶ 7, 9.
And it has been pretty clear to those on the ground that the introduction of ICE agents and members of the National Guard will only serve to inflame public anger. Immergut notes that, in their arguments, Donald Trump et al:
… proffer three declarations in support of their opposition to the TRO from individuals who do not appear to be based in Oregon. These declarations detail some specific instances of violence and other unlawful conduct involving the ICE facility and protests from this same period. On June 8, 2025, protestors attempted to block the vehicle entrance. Wamsley Decl., ECF 38 ¶ 17. On June 11, protestors lit fires to barricade a vehicle gate. Id. ¶ 11. Four offenders were arrested and are being prosecuted for arson, assaulting a federal officer, and depredation of federal property. Id. On June 14, protestors threw rocks and sticks and M80 fireworks at Federal Protective Services (‘FPS’) officers. Cantu Decl., ECF 40 ¶ 8. The Border Patrol Tactical Unit and the ICE Special Response Team responded, and the violent protest was under control within approximately two hours of its start. Id. A few FPS officers suffered minor injuries, and three protestors were arrested by federal officers and charged with assault on a federal officer. Id.
On June 24, 2025, one protestor was detained for assaulting a federal officer with a machete and knife—the officer deployed his taser and recovered the protestor’s weapons without getting injured. Id. ¶ 10. Another protester shot officers with a paintball gun, and a third shined a laser in an officer’s eyes. Id. All three were arrested by federal law enforcement and charged with assault on a federal officer. Id. Another protester attempted to set a U.S. flag on fire in the driveway. Wamsley Decl., ECF 38 ¶ 11. On June 29, a protestor tampered with the card reader at the ICE facility and resisted arrest. Cantu Decl., ECF 40 ¶ 9. Ultimately, three card readers were damaged in June 2025, as well as damage to gates and windows. Wamsley Decl., ECF 38 ¶ 12. With the card readers broken, personnel must call someone ahead of time to let them in, causing delays and inconvenience. Id. The ICE facility in Portland shut down from June 13, 2025, until July 7, 2025, due to the property damage from protesters. Id. ¶ 13. As a result of the closure, most Portland ICE officers had to work out of separate temporary space. Id.
[Emphasis added.]
While illegal, none of these incidents are indicative of a raging war. All were speedily dealt with. Immergut writes:
PPB’s independent monitoring of the protests and regular communications with FPS during this time show protests generally averaging less than 20 persons, with a few nights having around 50 persons. See generally Hughes Decl., Ex. 3, ECF 46-3 to Ex. 16, ECF 46-16. Sometimes the protests had ‘higher energy,’ and sometimes they had skirmishes between protestors, but they rarely had any issues with federal officers or federal property. Id. On September 18, 2025, the protests increased in size to around 150 people, but there were no issues with federal property or personnel and FPS did not request assistance. Id., Ex. 17, ECF 46-17 at 2. On September 19, federal law enforcement employed munitions to break up a crowd and reported to PPB assaults on protestors and one journalist by a known ‘agitator.’ Id., Ex. 18, ECF 46-18 at 2 to Ex. 19, ECF 46-19 at 2. There was no reported activity, however, against federal property or personnel. From Monday, September 22, 2025, through Friday, September 26, 2025, in the days immediately preceding the President’s federalization directive, the protests involved around 20 or fewer people. Id., Ex. 22, ECF 46-22 to Ex. 26, ECF 46-26. PPB reported no incidents of disruptions outside the ICE facility except for a few individuals shining flashlights into drivers’ eyes. Id., Ex. 25, ECF 46-25 at 2.
[Emphasis added.]
Immergut notes that the administration raises two issues:
In support of their opposition to the TRO, Defendants include in their supporting declarations that federal law enforcement officers are concerned that protests ‘risk escalation at any moment,’ Cantu Decl., ECF 40 ¶ 14, and that ICE employees are being ‘doxed’ and having their personal information posted online. Wamsley Decl., ECF 38 ¶ 12. Several Portland ICE officers have had flyers with their names, photographs, and home addresses posted publicly. Id. … Defendants also express concern about danger in Portland because of incidents that have occurred elsewhere in the country. Id. ¶ 21. Most concerning is the sniper shooting in Dallas, Texas, targeting an ICE van, and the protest that followed in Chicago when a protestor was found with a firearm. Id. ¶¶ 21–22.
[Emphasis added.]
Clearly, the issue of whether troops were needed in Portland was part and parcel of a wider scheme, and Judge Immergut acknowledges that when she cites remarks made by President Trump:
On September 19, 2025, President Trump explained that the administration was going to ‘get rid of’ the ‘problems’ in cities, including Chicago, Memphis, and Portland. Marshall Decl., ECF 9 ¶ 25. He described that in Portland people were ‘out of control’ and ‘crazy.’ Id. On September 25, 2025, the President again described Portland, exclaiming that ‘nobody’s ever seen anything like it’ with activity happening ‘every night,’ with people that ‘just burn the place down.’ Marshall Decl., ECF 9 ¶ 26. President Trump commented on ‘professional agitators’ in Portland who are ‘paid a lot of money by rich people,’ ‘anarchists,’ and ‘crazy people’ who try to ‘burn down buildings, including federal buildings,’ with Portland having activity ‘every night . . . for years.’ Id. He promised to do a ‘pretty big number’ on the ‘people in Portland that are doing that.’ Id.
And so the issue has become competing realities: There is Donald Trump’s invocation of war or the assertion by states and cities that they can adequately separate criminal activity from legitimate, constitutionally protected protest. In this case, Judge Immergut made the judgment, based on a detailed accounting of arrest records and the manner in which protests were conducted and the numbers of those protesting ICE activities, that local and state authorities had matters under control and that, beyond the fact that there were legal requirements that in her judgment the Trump administration had not met, there was indeed no compelling threat to public safety.
Sadly, when the administration appealed her decision to the Ninth Circuit of Appeals, they drew a panel of two Trump-appointed justices out of three. Not surprisingly, they were more than sympathetic to the notion that the executive deserved “deference” and that if he in his wisdom believed there was a threat, well that judgment won the day. They, too, it seems, believed we were at war. And, it seems to me, they, too, did their part to help King Donald win his war.
So, what does it really mean that they are fighting a war that so very many Americans are not aware of? Just maybe, if he could rouse himself from that deep slumber and saddle that dead horse of his, he would be riding this way, shouting: “One if by land!”
