To the editor:
Federal agents in tactical riot gear, with no identification on their uniforms other than “police,” are using “night and fog” techniques in Portland that are indistinguishable from Hitler’s Gestapo.
Nonviolent demonstrators are being picked up off the street and whisked away in unmarked vans in an unwarranted, brutal show of force to appease President Trump’s desperate need to show his toughness as a reelection campaign strategy.
What are agents from the ill-named U.S. Department of Homeland Security doing in Portland when neither the city’s mayor nor the state of Oregon’s governor have asked for them?
With Trump, the cruelty is the point. This sample of what a second Trump term would offer must end with the immediate removal of these uninvited, militarized violators of what’s left of our democracy.
Ken Levy, Los Angeles
Note from KBJ: If Ken Levy's house or business were being destroyed by the rioters, or if he or his family were being threatened with harm, he'd be the first to call for police protection. The first duty of government is to protect persons and property from aggressors. If state and local officials can't or won't do their duty, then the president must. Thank God for President Trump!
