Fox News figures are praising President Donald Trump’s deployment of armed federal agents to protest sites in Portland, Oregon — and his administration’s threats to do the same in other cities — despite the tactic’s dangerous implications.
The ongoing protests in Portland began nearly two months ago in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. The demonstrations have largely remained peaceful, and while there have been some incidents of violence, local leaders have pointed out there was hardly a need for federal intervention. Yet last week, reports began to emerge of federal agents pulling protesters into unmarked vans and detaining them without explanation, ostensibly as part of an effort to protect federal property in the city. And now the Trump administration is sending a similar deployment in Chicago and potentially other major cities as well.
The legal underpinnings of the deployment are constitutionally dubious, as experts have noted, and Oregon’s attorney general recently filed a lawsuit against multiple federal agencies in response to how they have detained protesters. Even though federal agents are supposedly there to quell violence, their presence could actually have the opposite effect. Since their arrival, tensions have escalated, and at least one protester was hospitalized after being shot in the head with a projectile fired by federal officers.
For weeks, Fox News has been feeding its audience wildly inaccurate caricatures of protests in cities across the country, suggesting that urban areas are being consumed by violence and encouraging Trump to reestablish “law and order.” Now, Fox hosts and guests are responding to a blatant political move — one that they helped inspire — by suggesting the deployment of federal troops to Portland and other cities is a necessary measure to quell violence, rather than simply a ploy to boost Trump’s reelection chances.
- On July 21, Fox prime-time host Laura Ingraham criticized Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for announcing that she did not want federal agents in Chicago to be used against residents in the same way they have been in Portland. “Always the nefarious description of law enforcement,” Ingraham argued. “She’ll accept some federal presence but clearly not enough.” Fox contributor Sara Carter praised the Trump administration’s actions and said, “President Trump is doing the right thing. He is speaking about law and order, and law and order is necessary for our society to move forward.”
- During an interview with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on July 21, Fox host Sean Hannity defended the Trump administration deploying federal forces, claiming, “When the president helped in Minneapolis, it worked. When he helped in D.C., it worked. It would work in New York, it would work in Portland, it would work in Seattle, and it would work in Chicago.” Later in the interview, Hannity presented a hypothetical scenario in which troops fired on demonstrators, asking, “If federal troops are brought in, … then they have to fire to protect themselves or others, who gets the blame for that?” Cotton responded, “Ultimately, the blame lies with criminals.”
- Earlier in the same show, Hannity was outraged by criticism of Trump deploying federal agents. He claimed, “They are angry President Trump is protecting federal property. They spend more time lecturing the president than the anarchists that are violent, that are committing acts of arson and looting. I am having a hard time understanding this mindset that your hatred of Donald Trump surpasses your desire for these people to protect their men, women, and children.” Fox correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera responded that there is “a ghetto circular firing squad” in Chicago while Trump’s critics “obsess about demonstrators being herded off the street.”