News

‘Are you blaming me?’ Portland Mayor Wheeler taken aback when reporter asks ‘the obvious’

January 14, 2021 | | Print Article

CHECK OUT BizPacReview on Parler!

Far-left Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has taken grave offense to a local journalist rightly pointing out to him how his lax attitude toward the left-wing extremists who’ve ravaged his city for months, may have very well emboldened extremists everywhere.

The offense was taken as he spoke with local station KATU reporter Genevieve Reaume.

“Three weeks ago, protesters broke into the Oregon State Capitol. I have heard people at these protests elsewhere saying, ‘Well, they let it happen in Portland. So why not do it here?‘” Reaume said to the mayor in an interview that was published Tuesday.

“It seems in some way the actions of these small groups you’re referring to have set the stage for what has happened on a state level and potentially a national level. I know you said it will take time to crack down on these groups, but do we have that time?”

It was a fair question, no? For months on end, Wheeler allowed left-wing extremists affiliated with Black Lives Matter and Antifa to effectively rule the night.

But for some reason, Wheeler took offense to the question and interpreted it as Reaume blaming him for the riot that occurred at the U.S. Capitol last week.

“Are you blaming me for what happened at the U.S. Capitol? I don’t buy that premise at all,” he replied.

Listen:

If he doesn’t buy that premise, why did he even reference it? Nowhere in Reaume’s question did she even reference the Capitol riot. She spoke primarily about local events and only subtly broached the possibility of something happening at “a national level.”

Some believe he took offense to the question because he realized deep inside that the KATU journalist’s point was 100 percent accurate.

Look:

Reaume responded to the mayor’s outrage by explaining her question again.

“What I’m saying is that what I’ve heard at the protests is people say we’ve seen this riotous behavior in Portland, so why not do it elsewhere like in Salem?” she remarked as the interview, the rest of which can be seen at KATU, continued.

Indeed, the violent summer riots that erupted in Portland over the summer quickly spread to other parts of the state after local officials did nothing to quell it.

“It doesn’t make it right. Nobody gets to point to somebody else breaking the law and say they broke the law, therefore I can break the law. That’s not how it works. We’re adults here,” the visibly annoyed mayor replied.

But nobody is saying that. The point that conservatives and a few rare journalists have been making over and over again is that it’s fundamental that all political violence be condemned and prosecuted.

However, Democrats in general — from local Democrats like Wheeler to ones on the national stage — have repeatedly refused to abide by this common-sense doctrine.

“And so the bottom line is we need to hold people accountable. First of all, we need to denounce the violence. Not just me, but everybody needs to say, I don’t care if you’re on the political left or the political right, if you’re engaged in acts of violence or criminal destruction, that is unacceptable,” Wheeler continued.

“And my job is to arrest you and make sure you get prosecuted and make sure you get held accountable for those actions. And to that end, I’ve taken some specific steps.”

He has indeed recently finally begun taking some serious steps to thwart the never-ending riots in Portland. The problem is he spent months upon months upon months excusing it, defending it, and tolerating it.

And when the Trump administration tried to help by sending federal assistance, the Democrat mayor rebuked them by saying “we do not want or need your help” and claiming they’d mistreated his city’s violent extremist rioters:

Not until the mayor was re-elected to office in November did he finally begin pursuing some real steps to quell the violence.

Though even then, the violence continues to persist on a near-daily basis:

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

$10
$15
$25
$50
Other
$
Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles