Trump slams 'incorrect reports' on Portland's federal presence, Internet says stop 'tear-gassing innocent moms'
Amid the protests in Portland and alleged violence from federal forces, Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday, July 29, and shared that Fox News has reported incorrectly about the current federal presence in Portland. He said, "We are demanding that the Governor & Mayor do their job or we will do it for them. Too complicated to discuss in a Tweet, but bad reporting by Fox."
His tweet came in light of the report by Fox News' chief White House correspondent John Roberts after he appeared on the show with Mike Emanuel — guest-anchoring for Bret Baier — and mentioned how the president is "giving officials in Oregon a short time to stop the violence in Portland, threatening that he will send in the National Guard if they can’t get it done," before reporting on the other big developments from the Trump administration and Capitol Hill, according to a report by the website Mediaite.
This was then followed by a report from William La Jeunesse on the latest developments in Portland. Le Jeunesse, according to Mediaite.com, had said that the Oregon State Police will help defend the courthouse and some federal agents will be withdrawn. He also said that the Feds are expected to remove the fence surrounding the courthouse and will stop sending agents into the streets. According to the same report, La Jeunesse added that DHS is saying "federal agents will remain nearby in case they’re needed," also noting the public war of words between the president and state officials.
According to the Daily Mail report, the tweets came just after Oregon Gov Kate Brown confirmed that the federal government had agreed to remove agents from Portland if officials secure the city and its Mark O Hatfield federal courthouse, where the height of the violence has occurred.
"Beginning Thursday, all Customs and Border Protection and ICE officers will leave downtown Portland, and shortly thereafter will begin going home," Brown said in a statement. In another statement, DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf said that the department will continue to maintain their personnel in Portland until they are assured that the Hatfield Federal Courthouse and other federal properties will no longer be attacked and the assurance of the security of the seat of justice in Portland.
Earlier, a Daily Mail report stated that Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to control Portland protests in an apparent attempt to save face hours after he backed down and agreed to remove federal troops from the city. In one of his tweets earlier in the day, Trump had said, "If the Federal Government and its brilliant Law Enforcement (Homeland) didn’t go into Portland one week ago, there would be no Portland — It would be burned and beaten to the ground. If the Mayor and Governor do not stop the Crime and Violence from the Anarchists and Agitators immediately, the Federal Government will go in and do the job that local law enforcement was supposed to do!" The report also quoted him saying, "They want to solve their problem, they've got a very short time to do it, but they'll either solve their problem or we send in the National Guard."
This backtracking of statements and blaming someone else of misinterpretation didn’t go down well with Twitter users. And like always they were not shy about expressing their opinions. One user said, "It's like a vicious cycle for Trump. He screws up and then he gaslights us into believing it never happened. Then he blames it on someone else." One even alleged that Trump wants the election to get canceled and that’s why "he wants someone to violently react by killing a few of his goons. Then, he can call for martial law and the war with our own govt starts there. He's getting impatient because he wants to cancel the election. If the war isn't raging by then, he can't cancel it." One Twitter user said, "No you aren’t. What you are doing is kidnapping peaceful protesters, tear-gassing innocent moms and shooting rubber bullets at American veterans. That’s the truth!"
Soon #NobodyLikesTrump started trending and Twitter users blasted him on several other things. One user said, "At least, he now admits to acknowledge his terrible approval ratings. And he's finally come to the conclusion that his personality is off-putting. I suppose it'll be a few months before he admits that he's a corrupt, selfish, loathsome, dictator wannabe with a bad combover." Some even said that he’s the only person they "hate" right now. Another said, “It's definitely his personality. And his lack of competence. And his cognitive and emotional issues, self-centeredness, narcissism, addiction to chaos, general lack of ethics, lack of a work ethic, and continual transparent cashing in on the presidency." One shared the observation that “The weird part of the /Nobody Likes Me' failure was the lie about throwing out the first pitch thing. Just because Dr Fauci got to throw out the first pitch, Trump tried to outdo him with a lie... that he got busted on."