As my colleague Ship covered so expertly, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler rage-rejected President Trump’s offer to send federal law enforcement officers to the city that’s been in a constant state of violent, destructive upheaval for two months (with years of intermittent Antifa violence preceding). Sadly, Trump supporter was murdered Saturday night by a leftist protester.

Sunday afternoon Wheeler held a press conference, along with the Chief of Police and the District Attorney. At the beginning of the conference, Wheeler denounced the violence and called for an end to it, but then went completely off the rails and blamed Trump for all of the violence and the resulting death.

A Trump supporter was targeted and killed last night in Portland.

Portland Mayor @TedWheeler is blaming President Trump and his supporters.

This is absolutely unreal. pic.twitter.com/OjOaFx31nK

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) August 30, 2020

He said:

Yesterday’s events began with hundreds of cars filled with supporters of the President rallying in Clackamas County and then driving through downtown Portland. They were supported and energized by the President himself.

President Trump, for four years we have had to live with you and your racist attacks on black people. We learned early about your sexist attitudes toward women. We’ve had to endure clips of you mocking a disabled man. We’ve had to listen to your anti-democratic attacks on journalists. We’ve read your tweets slamming private citizens to the point of receiving death threats, and we’ve listened to your attacks on immigrants. We’ve listened to you label Mexicans rapists. we’ve heard you say that John McCain wasn’t a hero because he was a prisoner of war. And now you’re attacking Democratic mayors and the very institutions of democracy that have served this nation well since its founding.

Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence? It’s you who have created the hate and division. it’s you who have not found a way to say the names of black people killed by police officers even as people in law enforcement have. And it’s you who claimed that white supremacists are good people. Your campaign of fear is as anti-democratic as anything you’ve done to create hate and vitriol in our beautiful country. You’ve tried to divide us more than any other figure in modern history. And now you want me to stop the violence that you helped create.

What America doesn’t need, Mayor Wheeler, is you continuing to put forward a false narrative. President Trump has never claimed that white supremacists are good people. He’s reached out to the families of black people killed by police officers and has attempted to work with Democrats to reform bad policies – but the Democrats don’t want that.

Wheeler continued:

What America needs is for you to be stopped so that we can come back together as one America while recognizing that we must demand that all people – black, brown, white, every color, from every political persuasion, pull together and hold all people accountable in stopping racism and violence, and we together are peaceful again under new leadership that reflects who we really are, we the people of this great nation.

President Trump, you bring no peace, you bring no respect to our democracy. You, Mr. President, need to do your job as the leader of this nation, and I, Mr. President, will do my job as the mayor of this city, and we will both be held accountable, as we should.

Hold people accountable in stopping racism and violence? Might I suggest, Mayor Wheeler, that you start in your own backyard and prosecute Andy Ngo’s attackers?

Here’s a refresher of what happened to him:

His attackers haven’t been charged.

Exhibit A: @MrAndyNgo‘s attackers are well known to Portland PD, who with the prosecutors have refused to take any action. They even scold people who report crimes in the “Rose City.”

— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) August 30, 2020

The overwhelming majority of Americans want our streets to be peaceful again, but a violent and evil few do not. You’re on the wrong side, Mayor Wheeler.