Good Monday morning.
Today is the last day of August 2020 and we’re off into September. I like the month of September because it begins to trend toward cooler days. Our Midwest summer has been warm with some very hot days, but nothing overbearing this year. Personally, I enjoy the cooler months.
I hate to close this month with another shooting involving Black Lives Matter and Antifa, but those groups don’t leave me much choice as I try to chronicle the slow drift toward Civil War 2.0 (CW2).
The short of it is that a pro-Trump caravan of hundreds of cars drove through downtown Portland where they faced opposition from counter-protesters who gathered along sidewalks and in the streets. Around 8:45 p.m., after the caravan was gone, a Trump supporter was fatally shot.
The dead man is identified as Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a supporter of Patriot Prayer. Labeled a white supremacist, far-right group in most media, their founder, Joey Gibson, explains the group’s purpose on Facebook. He says,
“This isn’t a political thing. I’m not out here to tell you who to vote for. That’s not what Patriot Prayer is about. Patriot Prayer is about trying to build a healthy culture and to stand against the hate, stand against Antifa, communists, stand against the white supremacists, the Nazis, whoever it may be.”
He doesn’t sound extreme, but I don’t know enough about them to confirm or deny where they fit on the continuum.
Here’s the aftermath of the shooting.
It looks like one possibility is that the dead man, Jay, drew a gun and shot first at the assailant who killed him. The suspect is Michael Reinoehl, who is said to be a “hardcore leftist.”
Whatever transpired, this is another clash between Antifa/BLM and other armed citizens. I hope that these deadly clashes are few and that people on both sides take a deep breath and consider where this will lead. However, I don’t believe Antifa or BLM will stop their protesting and rioting. Portland is into 90+ consecutive days/nights of protests, many of which have been declared riots.
They also seem to cheer the shooting death of the pro-Trump supporter.
Ted Wheeler, mayor of Portland, and Oregon Governor Kate Brown, are failing in their duty to protect the lives and rights of citizens in Portland. They could help tamp down the anger if they allowed Trump to send in the National Guard, as he’s offered to do three times. But Wheeler sent a reply to Trump: “No thanks.”
It may be a long eight weeks to the election.