Trump’s 2020 Portland Playbook Returns in New Deployments
The New York Times reports that President Trump’s 2020 decision to send federal officers to Portland—to quell nightly protests at the federal courthouse—has become a template for the administration’s 2025 push to deploy National Guard and federal forces to U.S. cities. Veterans of the 2020 Portland confrontations — police, federal agents and protesters — say mistakes made then (tactical missteps, escalation, trauma among officers and civilians) are being repeated as demonstrators gather again, this time over immigration enforcement.
Politics
Public Safety
📌 Key Facts
- President Donald Trump sent federal law‑enforcement officers to Portland in summer 2020 to respond to large nightly demonstrations at the federal courthouse.
- The Oct. 7, 2025 article links those 2020 actions to the administration’s contemporary moves to deploy National Guard/federal personnel to other cities, arguing the earlier intervention provided a 'playbook.'
- On‑the‑record reporting includes a quote from Portland police sergeant Aaron Schmautz describing exhaustion and trauma among officers who worked through the 2020 deployments.