Portland used to be a relatively safe, if not odd city. As a west coast liberal bastion, you were never going to mistake it for Fort Worth, but there was at least a sense that their “different” wasn’t catastrophic.

That’s dramatically changed over the last several years as the far-left leadership in Portland has given way to a mix of Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and general anarchists. Nightly acts of violence occur, including the continued destruction of federal buildings, which I’ve been assured means an insurrection is occurring.

But it’s not just the rioting that’s causing so much pain in the city. Things like murders are also up 800% in what can only be described as a shockingly terrible rise.

Any guesses of what these cities have in common?

In addition to having some elected officials that don't do their jobs, the leadership in all of these cities turned the keys over to the "Defund the Police" mob. pic.twitter.com/rF5QLskXqE

— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) May 25, 2021

In other words, things have gotten to the point where the media now have to come out of hiding on this issue and try to cover their backsides. Thus, you get The Washington Post actually trying to take credit for exposing the disaster that “defund the police” has been for Portland.

I responded accordingly when I saw Johnathan Chait trying to pull the bait and switch.

“Deeply-reported”…Right-leaning sites have been saying this for years. But this is what the media do. They crap all over a story until it fits their narrative, then they pretend they did something amazing by admitting it. https://t.co/OmnUA2fckq

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) June 1, 2021

RedState (and basically every other right-leaning news site) has been reporting extensively on the chaos in Portland. For examples, see here, here, and here. For the Post to now try to take credit for exposing all this is gaslighting of the highest order.

In fact, these are the same mainstream outlets that dismissed the idea that Portland had a problem in the past. You may remember the episode where a reporter went out and got a burrito so they could brag that everything was fine in Portland even as videos showed absolute anarchy in the streets.

pic.twitter.com/4bJUfmIc1C

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) June 1, 2021

There’s also this.

WaPo August 2020 // WaPo now pic.twitter.com/RUqHRGNuiG

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) June 1, 2021

Found em Nick! pic.twitter.com/Cvhlns0yvu

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) June 1, 2021

But what’s most precious about the Post’s write-up is the attempt to try to cover for Black Lives Matter as if they haven’t been absolutely complicit with Antifa in Portland. Antifa did not hijack some legitimate “social justice movement.” They started that movement there, to the extent that it deserves to be called one, and what you see is the result of that. BLM has rioted, looted, burned, and committed acts of violence in Portland just like those who claim the banner of Antifa. None of these groups get a pass. In fact, there’s essentially no daylight between them, as the featured image of this story shows. They are allies to the point where they aren’t the same people.

No, the media doesn’t get to once again ride in years late on a story and get plaudits when they were the ones who did everything they could to suppress this issue. Only now that things are so thoroughly out of control are they willing to even admit this stuff is happening.