As the president declared a Democrat-run city a “burning hellhole,” there was one measure he wouldn’t rule out to “make sure that people aren’t killed.”
(Video Credit: The White House)
At the same time that Democrats in Congress are feeling the heat over their government shutdown — arguably over a desire to use taxpayer money to cover healthcare costs for illegal aliens — their local and state executive peers are planting their feet on preventing those foreign nationals from being deported.
Now, with nightly violence unfolding in places like Portland, Oregon, as Antifa’s crime spree exacerbates violent protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, President Donald Trump isn’t ruling out invoking the Insurrection Act, as he deemed the city “a burning hellhole.”
“Portland is on fire. Portland’s been on fire for years,” the commander-in-chief said Monday from the Oval Office while taking questions from the press after an event approving the Ambler Road Project in Alaska. “I really think that’s really criminal insurrection.”
When specifically asked about whether or not he would utilize the Insurrection Act, which grants the president authority to federalize the National Guard and deploy the U.S. military domestically — save for situations enforcing civil or criminal law — Trump maintained, “So far, it hasn’t been necessary.”
“But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason. If I had to enact it, I’d do that,” he went on. “If people were being killed, and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that. I mean, I want to make sure that people aren’t killed. We have to make sure that our cities are safe.”
Over the weekend, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued two temporary restraining orders against the administration, contending that attempts to deploy the National Guard to Portland were violations of the Tenth Amendment and U.S.C. §12406.
Reacting to the decision from the judge he had appointed, Trump told the press Sunday, “Portland is burning to the ground. It’s insurrectionists all over the place. It’s Antifa. And yet the politicians are petrified — look, the politicians are afraid for their lives. That’s the only reason they’re saying there’s nothing happening, and you’ve seen it. The place is burning down, and they pretend like there’s nothing happening.”
While the president reminded the press on Monday about how his actions had already benefitted Washington, D.C., as efforts were underway to make Memphis, Tennessee, safer as well, a separate reminder on what was taking place in Portland was offered after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested CNN’s Kaitlan Collins head to the City of Roses to see for herself.
“I would encourage you, as a reporter, to go on the ground and to take a look for yourself,” said Leavitt, who went on to add, “You’re probably talking to partisan Democrat officials who are opposed to everything this president does.”
Here you go, @kaitlancollins — for your show (even though nobody will be watching).pic.twitter.com/kueq4V7T7J https://t.co/twWPEA3mHu
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 6, 2025
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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