Portland a political flashpoint

Portland, Oregon, again is at the center of heated American political discourse after a man was shot and killed over the weekend during a clash between protesters and supporters of President Donald Trump.

The mayor of Portland and the president exchanged a slew of insults Sunday on the situation in the city.

The man who died was a member of Patriot Prayer, a right-wing group. The clashes ensued when a caravan of about 600 vehicles with Trump 2020 and American flags rippling descended on the Pacific Northwest city.

"GREAT PATRIOTS!" Trump wrote on Twitter as he shared video of his supporters driving into Portland to confront the protesters.

Portland has been convulsed by protests and violence since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis police custody.

The violence in several American cities has become a central campaign issue in the Nov 3 presidential election. Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence spoke harshly of the unrest in their acceptance speeches at the Republican National Convention last week, pointing fingers at the Democratic leadership in those cities.

Trump's Democratic opponent, former vice-president Joe Biden, has said that the president is looking to capitalize on the ongoing violence because he believes it helps his reelection chances.

The tension already was heightened nationally after Jacob Blake, another black man, was shot in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug 23. Protests erupted in the days following, with two people fatally shot and a third wounded on the street in the small Midwestern city, whose business district was rocked by fires and vandalism. A 17-year-old from Illinois was charged in the shootings.

Trump is scheduled to visit Kenosha on Tuesday and is trying to arrange a meeting with Blake's family members, according to his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who appeared on Fox News Sunday.

Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes told CNN that the visit would not be helpful.

"They centered an entire convention around creating more animosity and creating more division around what's going on in Kenosha," she said. "So I don't know how, given any of the previous statements that the president made, that he intends to come here to be helpful, and we absolutely don't need that right now."

Joey Gibson, head of the Patriot Prayer group based in Washington state, told The Associated Press that the man who was killed was a "good friend", although he did not identify him. Gibson said he also was in Portland on Saturday when Trump supporters clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters downtown.

Trump has been continuously critical of Portland's Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler, who has declined offers of federal law enforcement help.

Wheeler wrote in a letter to Trump on Friday that "we don't need your politics of division and demagoguery", adding that "you've reached the conclusion that images of violence or vandalism are your only ticket to re-election".

Wheeler, who appeared with Police Chief Chuck Lovell and Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt at a news conference on Sunday, said: "To act as though he's shocked (at the shooting Saturday) is appalling to me. … I'd appreciate that either the president support us or he stay the hell out of the way."

"Ted Wheeler, the wacky Radical Left Do Nothing Democrat Mayor of Portland, who has watched great death and destruction of his City during his tenure, thinks this lawless situation should go on forever," Trump tweeted in response Sunday. "Wrong! Portland will never recover with a fool for a Mayor. He tried mixing with the Agitators and Anarchists, and they mocked him. He would like to blame me and the Federal Government for going in, but he hasn't seen anything yet," the president added.

When federal agents increased their presence in downtown Portland in July, the city saw some of the largest protests of the summer, with thousands of people turning out nightly. The crowds dissipated after the agents withdrew and state police agreed to protect federal buildings for a two-week period.

Biden also took to Twitter on Sunday. "We must not become a country at war with ourselves. A country that accepts the killing of fellow Americans who do not agree with you. A country that vows vengeance toward one another. But that is the America that President Trump wants us to be, the America he believes we are."

Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat who also has feuded with Trump, said in a statement that the president has "encouraged division and stoked violence" in American cities.

"But despite the President's jeers and tweets, this is a matter of life and death. Whether it's his completely incompetent response to the pandemic, where nearly 200,000 have died, or his outright encouragement of violence in our streets: it should be clear to everyone by now that no one is truly safe with Donald Trump as President," Brown said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.