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How Right-Wing Influencers Are Shaping the Guard Fight in Portland
How Right-Wing Influencers Are Shaping the Guard Fight in Portland
President Trump and his administration are amplifying the voices of pro-White House podcasters and streamers eager to ratify the president’s description of Oregon’s largest city as a “hellscape.”
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, tours the roof of an ICE detention center in Portland on Tuesday. Jordan Gale for The New York Times
By Anna Griffin and Aaron West
Reporting from Portland, Ore.
Oct. 10, 2025, 5:03 a.m. ET
In the fight over deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., Democratic leaders in the city and state have pleaded with President Trump and the courts to trust law enforcement records, both local and federal, that describe the demonstrations as small and comparatively calm. … But in the bifurcated media world of 2025, one side’s comparative calm is the other’s “hellscape” — as the White House described Portland on Wednesday — and the narrative that the Trump administration has wanted has been supplied by a coterie of right-wing influencers elevated by Mr. Trump himself.
On Thursday, the repercussions of those dueling versions of reality became clear as judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit questioned a district court’s finding that the protests in Portland were likely too minor to justify the National Guard deployment. The appeals court judges instead cited federal reports of demonstrators spitting on federal officers and shining flashlights in their eyes, behavior that has been captured, amplified and sometimes even prompted by pro-Trump personalities eager to counter local police.
{snip}
Pro-Trump provocateurs have gotten more open about their efforts as the stakes in the battle over how to police protests grow. Ms. Noem has threatened to quadruple the number of federal law enforcement agents in Portland if she is not satisfied with the city’s crowd-control efforts. Troops from the Oregon and California National Guards are awaiting deployment. Another group of guardsmen from Texas could be summoned at the president’s request.
Meantime, influencers are seeking to raise the tension. Matt Tardio, a right-wing streamer who was broadcasting to an online audience of 10,000 or so from the ICE building in Portland on Wednesday night, conceded that other streamers were trying to stir up trouble so they could capture it on video.
{snip}
“They were handing out flags and trying to get antifa folks to burn them,” the right-wing streamer Matt Tardio, center, said of fellow influencers. Jordan Gale for The New York Times
{snip}
Jack Dickinson’s chicken suit has made him stand out amid the small group of protesters that have been staking out the ICE facility in Portland. Jordan Gale for The New York Times
{snip}
President Trump and his administration are amplifying the voices of pro-White House podcasters and streamers eager to ratify the president’s description of Oregon’s largest city as a “hellscape.”
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, tours the roof of an ICE detention center in Portland on Tuesday. Jordan Gale for The New York Times
By Anna Griffin and Aaron West
Reporting from Portland, Ore.
Oct. 10, 2025, 5:03 a.m. ET
In the fight over deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., Democratic leaders in the city and state have pleaded with President Trump and the courts to trust law enforcement records, both local and federal, that describe the demonstrations as small and comparatively calm. … But in the bifurcated media world of 2025, one side’s comparative calm is the other’s “hellscape” — as the White House described Portland on Wednesday — and the narrative that the Trump administration has wanted has been supplied by a coterie of right-wing influencers elevated by Mr. Trump himself.
On Thursday, the repercussions of those dueling versions of reality became clear as judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit questioned a district court’s finding that the protests in Portland were likely too minor to justify the National Guard deployment. The appeals court judges instead cited federal reports of demonstrators spitting on federal officers and shining flashlights in their eyes, behavior that has been captured, amplified and sometimes even prompted by pro-Trump personalities eager to counter local police.
{snip}
Pro-Trump provocateurs have gotten more open about their efforts as the stakes in the battle over how to police protests grow. Ms. Noem has threatened to quadruple the number of federal law enforcement agents in Portland if she is not satisfied with the city’s crowd-control efforts. Troops from the Oregon and California National Guards are awaiting deployment. Another group of guardsmen from Texas could be summoned at the president’s request.
Meantime, influencers are seeking to raise the tension. Matt Tardio, a right-wing streamer who was broadcasting to an online audience of 10,000 or so from the ICE building in Portland on Wednesday night, conceded that other streamers were trying to stir up trouble so they could capture it on video.
{snip}
“They were handing out flags and trying to get antifa folks to burn them,” the right-wing streamer Matt Tardio, center, said of fellow influencers. Jordan Gale for The New York Times
{snip}
Jack Dickinson’s chicken suit has made him stand out amid the small group of protesters that have been staking out the ICE facility in Portland. Jordan Gale for The New York Times
{snip}
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