Merkley: Trump ‘Trying to Create Riots’, It’s Like What He Did in Portland
On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) alleged that President Donald Trump is “trying to create riots” and said his handling of Los Angeles is like the handling of Portland in the first Trump administration.
Merkley said, “I really want to stress, what the President’s doing in L.A. is so wrong. He is pouring fuel on the fire. We saw this in my home state of Oregon in Portland during the first Trump administration, sending out folks who had no identification, they were throwing people into vans that were unmarked. It was very much reminiscent of a fascist state. And this is his distraction and the huge distraction going on from this horrific bill he’s putting forward, this not so big and beautiful bill, this big, beautiful betrayal of working-class America, a huge distraction from that. We have to remember what he is up to and that he is basically having a families lose…billionaires win strategy, and the result is he wants to distract America from that.”
He continued, “And then, so, let’s keep pushing back that it is wrong to nationalize the use of our National Guard. It’s wrong to send in Marines. The local forces have this controlled. Quit pouring fuel on the fire and trying to create riots in America.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
