Frogs and left-wing terror

Frogs and “left-wing terror”
US President Donald Trump claims that the city of Portland is being terrorized by Antifa and resembles a war zone. However, the reality there is quite different: residents and local politicians contradict Trump's claims, which he is using to justify sending in the military.
By Harald Gibson
[This article posted on 10/23/2025 is translated from the Germam on the Internet, https://jungle.world/artikel/2025/43/trump-antifa-portland-froesche-und-linker-terror.]

Portland is by no means in a “war-like state”
More like carnival than the dark side of the force. Bicycle demonstration in Portland against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the threatened deployment of the National Guard, October 12.

All eyes in the United States are on the West Coast city of Portland in the state of Oregon. Although the city has only about half a million inhabitants, Trump supporters across the country consider it a hotbed of “wokeness” and violent left-wing militancy. For weeks, US President Donald Trump has been spreading falsehoods about a small protest outside the local headquarters of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency responsible for the mass deportation of migrants).

Trump has been trying in vain for weeks to send the National Guard into Portland, as he has already done in other Democratic-run cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles. But time and again, the courts have stopped him. In mid-October, a federal court in Oregon ruled again that the president did not have the right to send the military to Portland because there were no violent protests that made it necessary.

Trump's claim that the city was devastated as if by war was “simply detached from the facts,” according to Judge Karin Immergut in her ruling. On Monday, however, an appeals court ruled in favor of the federal government and lifted a ban on sending the National Guard to Portland; however, another court ban on sending troops to Oregon remains in effect.

A White House press release announced plans to “crush” “violent radical left-wing terrorism” in Portland.

In fact, Portland has been a center of alternative culture and left-wing radicalism since the 1990s. The so-called woke culture of the 2010s and early 2020s has also had a strong influence on the city, which was parodied in the TV series “Portlandia.”

During Trump's first term, there were numerous clashes between left-wing and right-wing extremist demonstrators, which were reported nationwide by the media. Conservative and right-wing extremist bloggers and streamers began to report regularly on “Antifa” in Portland, painting a picture of a terrorist movement.

The corresponding images were often taken at far-right demonstrations organized specifically for this purpose in Portland, such as the “End Domestic Terrorism” march in 2019, which was co-organized by the men's group Proud Boys.

During the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, there were about 100 days of ongoing protests in Portland, and once again images of masked protesters, fireworks, arson, and tear gas were splashed across the media. In recent years, Portland has also become known as a kind of safe haven for transgender people, who have a visible presence in the city as more and more of them move there from other parts of the country to escape discrimination and hostility.

Obsessed with Portland
The ICE building is located on the outskirts of the city center, next to a highway—a hard-to-reach place that few Portlanders have ever ventured to. For months, left-wing protesters have been camping on the sidewalk there, and on weekends there have sometimes been almost ritualized conflicts between a few dozen people and the police officers guarding the building.
The protest was the project of a few militants and, despite their persistence, received little attention outside their circles in Portland.

That changed when President Trump began talking about it. He and his supporters have been obsessed with the city for years. His administration's attacks on the “Antifa movement” — in reality a code word for the left as a whole — following the assassination attempt on Charlie Kirk, which culminated in declaring ‘Antifa’ a “terrorist organization” by decree, were aimed not least at Portland. For weeks, Trump and his followers have been spreading misinformation about what is happening there, while media outlets close to Trump tirelessly repeat footage of the militant protests from 2020.

“This place is a nightmare,” Trump said of the city. The city is burning down, he said, calling it “one of the worst places. It's brutal.” It is overwhelmed by “chaos, death, and destruction,” he said. A White House press release announced plans to ‘crush’ “violent radical left terrorism” in the city. Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said troops were needed to “end the reign of terror by the radical left in Portland once and for all.” Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed, “We are witnessing a terrible cycle of political violence in this country... Night after night, Antifa wreaks havoc on the streets of our cities.”

Trumpist claims completely absurd
However, if you look beyond the isolated block in front of ICE headquarters, such claims prove to be completely absurd. Life goes on as usual in the city's mostly quiet, tree-lined streets. Trump nevertheless attempted to take command of the Oregon National Guard in order to send it into the city, ostensibly to protect the ICE headquarters, but more likely to intimidate residents with the presence of troops.

Each US state has its own National Guard. These are reservists who are usually deployed in the event of natural disasters. Especially since the massacre at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970, when National Guard troops killed four unarmed students protesting against the Vietnam War, it has been unusual and considered politically sensitive to deploy them during demonstrations.

Meanwhile, nationwide attention has caused the protests in Portland to grow, and more local police and (non-military) federal officials are present. Conservative and right-wing extremist figures, media representatives, and influencers are also observing the protests.

Violent right-wing extremists provoke
When Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, visited the ICE facility in early October, she brought along influencers who support Trump, such as YouTuber Benny Johnson, but denied access to local media. Well-known violent right-wing extremists also showed up at the protests and tried to provoke fights.

The city and state political leadership have condemned Trump's threats. “Trump is pursuing an authoritarian takeover of Portland in the hope of provoking conflict,” said Oregon's Democratic US Senator Ron Wyden. Maxine Dexter, a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives, said it was “an egregious abuse of power and a betrayal of fundamental American values.”

In addition to frogs, zebras, unicorns, chickens, and clowns are also taking part in the demonstrations. No Kings protests in Los Angeles, October 18
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Mayor Keith Wilson said, “The number of troops needed is zero, in Portland and every other American city.” And the Portland City Council passed a resolution urging the local police and government not only to refuse to cooperate with federal authorities, but also to try to monitor and limit federal action in Portland and protect immigrants from arrest by ICE. Even Police Chief Bob Day criticized Trump's remarks about Portland and spoke out against sending in the National Guard; some right-wing populist media outlets also refer to him as “Antifa.” It goes without saying that most residents reject Trump's plans.

After police officers sprayed pepper spray through the breathing hole of a man's frog costume, other protesters donned frog or other costumes in solidarity.

In the meantime, an unusual symbol of the protests has emerged: frogs. After police officers sprayed pepper spray through the breathing hole of a man's frog costume, other protesters donned frog or other costumes in solidarity. Now people dressed as zebras, frogs, unicorns, chickens, and clowns are taking part in the protests. This tactic, designed to counteract the image of the protests as aggressive and violent portrayed in some media outlets, is now being copied in other cities.

It remains to be seen whether and how long the various court orders prohibiting Trump from sending troops will remain in place. But Trump is already publicly considering invoking the Insurrection Act. This law, which dates back to the early years of the republic, allows him to declare that the country is in a state of armed rebellion, which empowers the president to deploy the regular military, not just National Guard reservists, domestically. Local and state authorities would be powerless to stop him. It would be a dramatic step toward a government in which power is concentrated almost exclusively in the hands of the president.