After doing what he had to do to get re-elected, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is now showing his true colors by declaring war on Antifa following a New Year's Eve protest. You can watch Mayor Wheeler's entire virtual press conference in the video embedded below. His statements are earning him praise from Trump administration officials such as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and conservative members of the media including Andy Ngo.
It was not long ago that Tear Gas Ted earned his moniker by getting a taste of his own medicine as he stood with protesters outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland as part of a publicity stunt (https://copblaster.com/blast/25868/portland-mayor-ted-wheeler-tear-gassed-by-federal-officers). Back then Tear Gas Ted could not afford to appear supportive of law enforcement because doing so would have been seen as supporting Donald Trump and his Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf who were politicizing the heavy handed crackdown on Black Lives Matter protesters to appeal to Trump's base. Wheeler knew that getting re-elected under such circumstances would be difficult for him no matter what and impossible if he were viewed as a Trumpite. For those reasons he did all he could to convince the protesters and their supporters that he was on their side. He went on TV and asked the federal government to leave, he showed up at protests and told the crowd what they wanted to hear, and he even got gassed with them. He did all of those things because he knew that he would not get re-elected had he done what he really wanted to do. He really wanted to support his police and large corporations that own the handful of downtown businesses that have been damaged during during protests attended by mostly peaceful demonstrators. Now that he does not have to worry about losing his job anytime soon, he is doing what he has wanted to do all along. He is throwing his support behind his cops, corporations, and the feds. He is now asking the state and federal government to help him wage war on his own people. The law defines a traitor as one who levies war against or adheres to the enemies of those they owe an allegiance to by giving them aid and comfort within their area or elsewhere (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2381). By definition Ted Wheeler's declaration of war against people in Portland makes him a traitor deserving of seeing his face on the Wanted for Treason Poster above.
DHS Secretary Chad Wolf has responded to Wheeler's treachery by saying "Glad the mayor is finally acknowledging the Antifa and violent opportunist threat for what it is." (https://twitter.com/DHS_Wolf/status/1345503693408514048). What was Wolf so glad to hear? He was glad to hear Wheeler say, " it will be necessary to use additional tools and to push the limits of the tools we already have to bring the criminal destruction and violence to an end" and that he is now committing himself to "Federal, state, county and local law enforcement." Wheeler's words are an about face from just a few months ago when he called the actions of DHS employees under Wolf's command "unconscionable and un-American" and said that he was "committed to change, this must stop so the work can move forward." After being attacked by the feds himself, Wheeler said "What I saw last night was powerful in many ways. I listened, heard, and stood with protesters. And I saw what it means when the federal government unleashes paramilitary forces against its own people." Now Wheeler is vowing to unleash his own paramilitary forces against his own people.
Conservative journalist and notorious internet snitch Andy Ngo responded to Wheeler's statements by saying, "Better four years late than never. Antifa have been carrying out acts of mass carnage on the streets of Portland since 2017. They were coddled & protected by the city's leadership & activist class." (https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1345409451713589256). Ngo has been leading an online campaign aimed at getting people associated with Antifa arrested ever since he got a milkshake dumped on his head by Antifa in 2017 (https://copblaster.com/blast/25994/andy-cuong-ngo-the-internets-biggest-snitch). His tactics include doxing, drawing attention to anything anyone associated with Antifa does that might be illegal, and inciting his followers to bombard law enforcement with such information. Wheeler is a member of the same leadership class that Ngo was referring to, but he has never been part of any activist class. Wheeler is a trust fund baby that has never known life without privilege. His people are the rich people of Portland. He has always served them while claiming to serve the masses just enough to get their votes. In many ways he is similar to Andy Ngo. Ngo is the son of a South Vietnamese police officer that fled Vietnam to avoid accountability for his actions after his government lost the war. He grew up in Southeast Portland, went to UCLA, and later Portland State before becoming a successful journalist that caters only to conservatives. Like Wheeler, Ngo is a weakling that depends on police protection to get away with doing what he does. People that truly have the public's interests at heart don't need the cops. The only people that really need the police are those that do messed up things that the law protects. If either of them ever had to answer to the public without the cops they would not survive. That is why people like Wheeler and Ngo are so scared whenever they see anyone seeking to limit law enforcement achieve any level of success using tactics not necessarily prescribed by statutes. They know that if they don't preserve the status quo they will not last, which is why they do all they can to scare the stupid silent majority into supporting the police.
What the stupid silent majority should really be scared of is what Ted Wheeler is proposing that the legislature do in response to the protests. He is asking the legislature to increase the penalties for non-violent property crimes. Asking the legislature to increase penalties for anything down the road in response to something happening right now is not capable of having any meaningful impact on the present. The impact is always felt in the future and mostly by people that have nothing to do with the underlying motivations behind the stricter penalties. Such tactics are similar to NCAA sanctions that punish institutions in ways that have little to no impact on the staff members or students that violated the rules, but tend to have devastating effects on those that follow. When the NCAA cracked down on the football program at USC for violations committed while Pete Carroll was head coach those sanctions did nothing to punish Carroll or the players that broke the rules. By the time sanctions were handed down those guys were all in the NFL. It was the next generation of players were that lost scholarships and could not play in bowl games. Increasing the punishments for damaging property in response to present day protesters will not punish many of them, but it will punish a lot of people that have nothing to do with the protests at all for many years to come. The end result would likely be a lot of non-violent property offenders taking up jail space that should only be used for violent criminals if anyone. This author personally recalls meeting a man that was in federal custody a few years ago for burglarizing and damaging a medical clinic. Normally he would have just been charged with burglary and criminal mischief in state court where the sentence would not have included much prison time, but because the clinic performed abortions he ended up in federal prison for many years. The reason for the federal charge was because Congress wanted to protect abortion clinics from being targeted by pro-life activists, so they made it a very serious federal crime for anyone to damage an abortion clinic. It did not matter that the man was not a pro-life activist, was stung out on meth, and had no idea that the place performed abortions. All he had to do was knowingly damage a clinic that performed abortions. He did not deserve to be in prison for what he did, but he was there for a long time just the same. Asking the legislature to increase the penalties for property crimes in response to recent protests will only result in more disproportionally severe sentences being handed down to people other than those that such legislation would be passed to punish.
Conclusion
Ted Wheeler is showing his true colors now that he does not have to worry about losing his job in the near future. He lied to the press, the protesters, and the people make him look like he cared about black people. Ted Wheeler does not care about black people. He has never cared about black people. He has never cared about anyone but himself and his people. His service to others is limited to the bare minimum necessary to make them think he cares about them when he really does not care about them at all.
Note: Ted Wheeler announced a few months ago that he would no longer be residing at his condo at the address above. He also owns a house at 2028 SW Jackson Street. Both places have been repeatedly picketed over the years. We support such picketing, but do not support damaging people or property at those locations.