Portland is fortifying itself with stainless-steel barriers and unveiling a revamped police unit dedicated to crowd control, bracing for the turbulent political demonstrations expected as we barrel toward the 2024 presidential election.
As we all know, this is not uncharacteristic for the struggling liberal city. During the extensive and violent protests following George Floyd‘s death in May 2020, Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse bore the brunt of the action, and now officials are preparing for the same location to get a beating again. The city is nearing completion on seven hefty barricades designed to protect the courthouse. Overall, the changes being made to the location are costing the city $4.5 million.
Why exactly is Portland bracing itself with the kind of preparations you’d expect for an impending natural disaster, rather than an election season? Could it be a creeping realization among the city’s liberal strongholds that Trump might just make a comeback? It looks like the rose-tinted glasses are finally coming off, and the reality that their “savior” Joe Biden isn’t invincible is starting to sink in.
Portland’s woes run deep and far beyond the specter of political protests. This city is a case study of liberal policies gone awry, grappling with skyrocketing crime rates, a homelessness crisis spiraling out of control, rampant drug use, and businesses fleeing. The city seems more inclined to throw money at temporary fixes like steel barricades than to tackle these systemic issues head-on.
The truth of the matter is if Portland remains under the thumb of left-wing governance, any hope for genuine recovery is but a pipe dream. The city’s officials appear to be banking on more of the same: short-term solutions to deep-rooted problems. But what Portland desperately needs is a conservative overhaul, a shift towards policies that prioritize law and order, economic stability, and the welfare of its citizens over political correctness and temporary band-aids.
As election season looms, the preparations underway in Portland speak volumes not just about the city’s anticipation of unrest but about a broader disillusionment with liberal leadership. The fortification of public buildings and the establishment of new crowd control units are symptomatic of a city at the end of its rope, grappling with the failures of its own ideological convictions.
