Panic Mode
The City of Portland entered full on panic mode today as the reality of Hillary’s surprising defeat started to sink in. Portland Mayor Charlie Hales issued the following statement regarding the outcomes of the 2016 Election:
"This is a bad day for our country, a sad day, in which the values of love and tolerance have been repudiated by the voters in the United States of America. "The most important thing that we can all say is that this is a time when we, as Portlanders, must come together and reach out to each other. Reach out to our immigrants and refugees who moved here because they believed this was a good and safe place, a land of opportunity—it is and it has to be. "I’m proud of the message our state sent to the nation last night. We elected the first openly LGBTQ governor in the nation—Governor Kate Brown embodies public service with integrity. I’m proud of the fact that Portland voters passed the largest bond measure in the history of our city for the purpose of housing our fellow residents. "I know many of our educators, parents and caregivers are struggling to explain the outcome of this election to our youth. I take solace in the fact that we live in a place where people care about community. This is a place where people can work together and make good things happen. That’s true in Portland. That’s true in Oregon. That’s true on the West Coast. And I hope it will be true in our Country. But I think we all need to do some reassurance of our fellow community members—particularly people of color, women, and our young people—that this is a good place and that we respect each other here. I think for me, for all of us as Americans, that’s part of the way forward."
Meanwhile, in other news, Portlanders took to the streets to express their values of “love and tolerance” by protesting, disrupting traffic, shouting hate-filled messages, lighting trash cans on fire, breaking store windows, and generally acting like the intolerant bunch of immature children that they are.
11/10/16 Update: The protests continued for the third straight night and evolved into violence and riots as the protesters grew more and more aggressive, emboldened by the city’s apparent apathy and indifference to the whole situation as no significant action was taken by the Mayor or the Portland Police to take control of the escalating situation.
Yes, Mayor, I am struggling to explain to my kids why a people so full of “love and tolerance” act like pathetic sore losers when they don’t get their way. But you’re right about one thing, that behavior is true Portland at its finest.