Full Force in Portland: Trump’s Golf-Course Coup

From the Ryder Cup to martial law, the president swaps scorecards for invasion orders.

Trump went to the Ryder Cup this weekend, and between mulligans and taxpayer-funded lobster rolls, he found time to declare war on Portland, Oregon. Not metaphorical war, not the usual hot-air “these cities are hellscapes” routine, an actual order to deploy troops with “full force if necessary.” Yes, while other presidents tee off to clear their heads, Trump takes a sand wedge to the Constitution.

In a Truth Social post that sounded like it was drafted on the back of a cocktail napkin, Trump wrote: “At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists. I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary.” The capitalization alone was practically a declaration of martial law. “War ravaged Portland”? Locals would be forgiven for thinking they’d missed the part where their city was flattened in a siege. The only thing Portlanders are fighting over this weekend is which food cart has the best bibimbap.

But Trump’s rhetoric isn’t accidental. For weeks, ICE agents have been staging their little passion plays outside the Portland facility, throwing protesters to the ground, yanking dads out of cars with kids strapped in the back, abducting men on their way to daycare. It’s provocation dressed up as law enforcement, a series of YouTube-ready scuffles designed to produce exactly the headlines Trump wants: chaos, disorder, “domestic terrorists.” He creates the smoke and then insists on sending in the fire.

Local leaders aren’t fooled. Mayor Keith Wilson and Governor Tina Kotek, blindsided, of course, because this White House prefers Truth Social posts to actual communication, urged residents not to “take the bait.” Senator Jeff Merkley all but begged Portlanders to stay calm, calling the troop surge exactly what it is: theater. It’s difficult to “not take the bait,” though, when the Commander-in-Chief is dangling the U.S. military over your city like a toddler threatening to drop a plate just to watch it shatter.

The White House refuses to explain what “full force” means. Will it be National Guard units? Marines? A platoon of Proud Boys in camo gear with federal badges duct-taped to their chest? Nobody knows, least of all the Pentagon, which still hasn’t responded to questions. What we do know is that two days before his order, Trump said in the Oval Office, “We’re going to do a pretty big number on those people in Portland.” That’s full on mobster patter. He doesn’t sound like a president so much as Tony Soprano with a nuke button.

The irony, of course, is that Trump’s “law and order” presidency looks less like restoring order and more like staging a perpetual riot in order to justify militarization. He’s run the same script in Los Angeles, in D.C., now in Memphis, and he’s threatened to air-drop the National Guard into Chicago and Baltimore like paratroopers in some domestic version of D-Day. This isn’t governance; it’s performative occupation. The Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act were supposed to guard against this exact abuse, but Trump treats legal limits the way he treats golf rules, as suggestions he’s free to ignore whenever the lie is inconvenient.

And here’s the kicker: while he’s mobilizing troops against Americans, his family is busy hawking Kai Trump sweatshirts, relaunching Trump vodka, and turning the White House Rose Garden into a private “members-only club.” Farmers can go to hell, inflation can spiral, and people can’t afford groceries, but the presidential family has time to debut new merch lines. If you’re looking for an administration that’s both authoritarian and tacky, congratulations, you’ve found it.

So here we are: Portland, Oregon, declared a war zone not by foreign invaders, but by the man sworn to defend the Constitution. Federal troops sent to crush an enemy that exists mostly in his imagination. “Full force if necessary,” he says. The only thing “war ravaged” here is American democracy, under siege from a president who thinks governing means golfing, grifting, and ordering up a military invasion of his own citizens like it’s a side of fries.