The Real Cost of Ordering Troops Into Cities like Portland

By James S. Russell
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Donald Trump has relentlessly depicted cities as cauldrons of violence and lawlessness abetted by spineless liberals. His endlessly repeated mantra depicts urban crime in the most lurid overblown language: “Violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters.” Immigrants are murderers and child traffickers. These apocalyptic portrayals are true nowhere.

Now there are boots on the ground in Los Angeles, Washington and perhaps Portland by the time you read this. Unfortunately for the Trump Administration, the politicized deployments of armed forces against Americans on American soil is presumably a crime—not a good look—though courts will have to sort that out.

Some in the pundit class are willing to credit the Trump administration if crime actually goes down, but flooding public places with uniformed officers is extremely costly, and of limited value at best, especially when imposed on municipalities rather than in a cooperative partnership with local law enforcement and reflecting the desire of locals.

Creating the perception of rampant crime is a potent political weapon, however destructive it is to targeted communities. Masked and armed troops are a TV-friendly spectacle meant to show that Trump and his minions are “tough on crime.” This is the latest sequel in the “law and order” franchise—not the TV show but the expression deployed as a political tool to bludgeon cities—especially cities run by Democrats.

https://www.postalley.org/2025/09/29/the-real-cost-of-ordering-troops-into-cities-like-portland/