Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler Tries to One-Up Ted Cruz on the Antifa Issue, Fails Miserably

Subcommittee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks as Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt, and Department of Transportation Inspector General Calvin Scovel appear before a Senate Transportation subcommittee hearing on commercial airline safety, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, March 27, 2019, in Washington. Two recent Boeing 737 MAX crashes, in Ethiopia and Indonesia, which killed nearly 350 people, have lead to the temporary grounding of models of the aircraft and to increased scrutiny of the FAA's delegation of a number of aspects of the certification process to the aircraft manufacturers themselves. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Subcommittee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-TX, speaks as FAA Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt, and DOT I.G. Calvin Scovel appear before a Senate Transportation subcommittee hearing on commercial airline safety, Wednesday, March 27, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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As Red State‘s Sarah Lee wrote yesterday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called on the feds Sunday to “investigate & bring legal action against” Portland, OR Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) in the aftermath of this past weekend’s violent attack on independent journalist Andy Ngo.

Cruz alleges that “for political reasons, [Wheeler] ordered his police officers to let citizens be attacked by domestic terrorists” and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Seemingly oblivious to Cruz’s call for legal action against him, Wheeler logged on to the Twitter machine Monday afternoon to give himself credit for seemingly being on top of the situation, and pledging that “those who have committed violence” will be “held accountable.”

Later, once Wheeler got wind of Cruz’s demand for an investigation, the embattled Mayor attempted to one-up the Texas Senator by asserting that he did not order any officers to stand down:

As of this writing, Wheeler’s tweet has been severely ratioed, but that ratio is nothing compared to the blistering response he received from Sen. Cruz:

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Wheeler can deny he ordered a stand down all he wants, but Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner issued a statement in the aftermath of Saturday’s violence that would seem to back up Cruz’s version of events (bolded emphasis added):

It doesn’t matter if our citizens are democrats or republicans; no one should be attacked in the streets of our city. Good leadership means taking the reins and stepping forward to let people know when there is wrongdoing. The law is applicable no matter which side you’re on.

Where are the voices condemning the lawlessness and violence? If this violence had been directed at Antifa, there would have been an immediate call for an independent, outside investigation. This is a perfect example of Portland politics at work and why our great City is now under fire in the national news.

The Mayor, our Police Commissioner, is not allowed to use the rank and file officers of the Portland Police Bureau as a shield to deflect Portland’s negative press nationwide. As we have said before and will continue to say: Police officers work to uphold the Constitution, including the right to free speech. It’s our job to ensure that our community can peacefully protest without fear of violence but right now our hands are tied.

It’s time for our Mayor to do two things: tell both ANTIFA and Proud Boys that our City will not accept violence in our City and remove the handcuffs from our officers and let them stop the violence through strong and swift enforcement action. Enough is enough.

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Ngo, who was severely injured in the attack and hospitalized, said on CNN today that there have been “many other [similar] incidents that have happened since 2016 and the policing has remained the same, which is a policy of not engaging with militant protestors.”

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—Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–

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