Andy Ngo

Quotes

1. Responding police cruisers had their tires slashed by rioters who dumped nail-filled pool noodles on the street… the night before, rioters tried to break into the Portland Police East Precinct. Two elderly women who lived nearby tried to stop the mob from setting fire to the building. As one of them used an extinguisher to put out a fire, she was screamed at and harassed. The mob then hurled paint at them. One woman had it thrown in her face and eyes.

   p. 70

2. 

   As any good journalist should know, you don’t want to become part of the story. However, whether I wanted to or not, antifa decided to make me part of their story. After my 2019 beating, I became antifa’s public enemy number one. They sent me death threats, stalked me, and even showed up at my family’s home on several occasions. They have threatened to shoot me and to set me on fire. They’ve released my exact whereabouts in real time on social media. They’ve threatened my friends. The criminal threats are reported to the local police, but no one is ever held accountable.

   p. 7

3. 

   In Portland, I made the decision to go to CHAZ. There’s a lot of reporting one can do from a distance away, but at some point, it requires being on the ground. But I was scared. Terrified, actually. Ever since I was beat by antifa in June 2019, one of the deliberating psychological consequences is anxiety in crowds. I had never suffered from enochlophobia, a fear of crowds, but everything changed after the attack… I hated giving antifa what they wanted—fear—but they’ve made it very clear they want to beat me again and this time finish the job.

   p. 32

4. 

   Though nearly 280 people were arrested throughout May and June, almost all of them were quickly released without bail or conditions, even when they violently resisted arrest and were found to be carrying weapons… Rioters would simply return to the riot again, sometimes within the same day, and face no consequences for subsequent arrests.

   p. 61

5. 

   As bad as the riots already were, city council and local politicians actively worked to undermine the federal government’s attempts to protect federal property. In effect, they were cobelligerents with antifa in their uprising. When Acting Secretary Chad Wolf of DHS flew to Portland from Washington, DC, in mid-July to survey the extent of the violence and destruction, local officials preemptively refused to meet with him. ‘We’re aware that [DHS leadership is] here. We wish they weren’t,’ tweeted Mayor Wheeler. ‘We haven’t been invited to meet with them, and if we were, we would decline.’ Oregon Democratic senator Ron Wyden called federal officers an ‘occupying army.’ Oregon governor Kate Brown echoed and amplified the false media headlines. ‘This is a democracy, not a dictatorship. We cannot have secret police abducting people in unmarked vehicles,’ Governor Brown tweeted.

   p. 65

6. 

   [George] Floyd, a 46-year-old black man with an extensive criminal history, died while being arrested by police in Minneapolis after allegedly using counterfeit money. Shocking video recorded at the scene showed Officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck while he repeatedly stated that he couldn’t breathe… Floyd became unresponsive and died. The Hennepin County medical examiner found that he died as a result of the ‘combined effects of… being restrained by the police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system.’ There was no evidence found of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation in the county’s autopsy. It was later revealed that Floyd’s blood contained a fatal level of fentanyl.

   p. 13

7. 

   The Witches was one mutual aid group that formed to give out water, food, and other supplies to rioters. Riot Ribs was a pop-up kitchen that cooked hot meals. Free food is a mainstay of the riots for a few reasons. It draws in protesters and vagrants to inflate crowd numbers. Secondly, it is effective for propaganda as it generates favorable news stories and photographs showing the ‘peaceful’ side of the radical protests.

   p. 55

8. 

   From May through August 2020, hundreds had been taken into custody by law enforcement. But the result was the same for almost everyone: the Multnomah County district attorney dropped the charges, even the serious felonies. Assarrah Butler, the accused riot supplier who, in June, sped off in her car, hitting other vehicles, was originally charged with felony riot, felony failure to perform duties of driver to injured person, felony criminal mischief, felony fleeing, reckless driving, and reckless endangering. Every single charge was dropped. Likewise, an accused arsonist who allegedly admitted to roommates she was part of antifa, had all her charges dismissed. The dropping and dismissal of their felony charges were the norm, not the exception.

   p. 70

9. 

   Then in July, the mob’s attention fully switched to the federal courthouse with an intensity not previously seen… Several in the mob openly carried rifles and handguns. One of the men arrested at the riot was antifa shooter Michael Reinoehl. He was carrying an illegal firearm and resisted arrest, requiring three Portland Police officers to be subdued. However, he was only cited and released because he claimed to be injured. His criminal charges were later dropped by the Multnomah County District Attorney. Reinoehl went on to kill a Trump supporter the following month in downtown Portland.

   p. 62

10. 

    Democrats thought they could pacify antifa by refusing to condemn or even acknowledge them. But they were playing with fire. On November 8, 2020, several dozen antifa in black bloc marched to the headquarters of the Multnomah County Democrats office. They destroyed the building by smashing most of the glass windows. On the building, they spray-painted: ‘FUCK BIDEN’ and ‘No presidents.’ They drew a symbol of anarchism to make it perfectly clear who was responsible.

    p. 76

11. 

    For the next four weeks, antifa’s plan of escalating attacks on federal property to provoke a federal response for the cameras produced the exact propaganda they wanted. On any given night, there were dozens who identified as press. At its peak there were probably more than one hundred journalists and livestreamers, most of whom were sympathetic to the rioters and protesters. Instinctively, and at the urging or demand of others, their cameras were trained solely on law enforcement to capture their every move. Those who ran afoul of antifa’s rules were forced out or assaulted and robbed. Left-wing livestreamer Tristan Taylor was beaten to the ground and had his recording equipment stolen.

    p. 63

12. 

    For the next four hours, rioters continued to light fires on the street and hurled more mortar fireworks at officers. One sergeant was directly hit by an explosive, which burned through his glove, injuring his hand… Over fifty people were arrested that night, including Kristina Narayan, the legislative director for Tina Kotek, the Democratic Speaker of the Oregon House. Joseph Robert Sipe, 23, was arrested and charged with first-degree attempted murder, first-degree attempted assault, first-degree arson, and possession of a destructive device. Court documents say he admitted to lighting the wick of a Molotov cocktail and then launching it toward the police officers. The district attorney later dropped three of the four most serious charges. The following week. Mayor Wheeler announced a total ban on the use of tear gas for crowd control.

    p. 73