In a post-Trump Oregon, experts watchful for partisanship, violence
Americans held their breath as President Joe Biden prepared to take the oath of office.
The end of the Trump era that oath marked felt balanced on a knife s edge, years of social and political tension manifested in a militarized Washington, D.C., and state capitols vigilant for violence. Still, the day s climax was entirely peaceful, almost boring.
But if the nation s wounds didn t tear open Inauguration Day, neither were they miraculously healed.
Participants in and watchers of Oregon politics expect the political and activist divisions exacerbated by the past four years to simmer and, on occasion, boil over in the years ahead. At the Capitol in Salem, it could mean partisanship and political stunts. There and elsewhere, it also could mean political violence and continued factional skirmishes.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, took to Twitter Thursday night to call on President Biden to condemn Inauguration Day protests turned violent riots in Portland and Seattle.
Protests on the West Coast take a violent turn following Joe Biden s inauguration; GOP Sen. Tom Cotton reacts to the riots on Fox & Friends.
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Tom Cotton is joining Rep. Ken Buck in introducing for the new Congress a bill to strengthen federal penalties for rioters in the wake of violence from the right at the Capitol and from the left in the West this month.
Buck, R-Colo., first introduced the legislation, called the BRICKS Act, in November, following months of protests last year that often turned into riots. They started in the late spring and continued through the summer and into the fall before the presidential election. Buck at the time condemned an unprecedented amount of violence from riots organized by Antifa and other radical leftist groups.
Protests in Portland erupted on Wednesday just hours after Biden s inauguration
Antifa demonstrators smashed windows of the Democratic Party headquarters
Protesters carried anti-Biden and anti-police signs before the damage began
Later the protesters headed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement building
Federal authorities used flash bangs and tear gas to disperse the crowd
Out of 200, 15 were arrested - 7 had been caught during riots in 2020
Police released the mugshots of 8 of the suspects
Knives, batons, a crowbar, pepper spray and homemade firebombs confiscated