Fingers on Their Triggers

Hi,

I suppose we should start with the really big news: Michael Organ has failed in his bid to become an elected official in the small New Zealand town of Whanganui.

Organ came in 20th place – fourth to last. Still, 1849 locals voted for him – which I'd argue is 1849 too many. Considering Organ was mostly running on a promise of “NO TO MAORI WARDS”, we can probably imagine the sorts of people who voted. Either that, or people who really hated my documentary.

I still get the odd email about Mister Organ, and hopefully the film continues to make anyone who’s run into a narcissist feel somewhat seen:

"Watching Mister Organ resonated with me because at the time I was working for a guy who was a lot like him. I remembered what you said in the documentary, that being around these people gradually ruins you. I was stuck in this situation for just over a year; I left the job earlier this year, but it has cost me  immensely, and I have just about rebuilt my life recently. I have sought legal advice, but essentially have been told it's not worth pursuing. This has left me dissatisfied and disappointed that we live in a society where people like Mister Organ can try to ruin your life for absolutely no reason, and get away with it."

Fingers on Their Triggers: Outside ICE in Portland

One of the first things you notice when you turn up at the ICE building in Portland is that you start sneezing and coughing a little more than usual, like you're starting to get a cold.

Then you realise it’s just yesterday's tear gas and pepper spray being kicked up by passing feet and cars. 

It’s 11am, and I’m down here with Heather (who you met in my last newsletter) and Josh, both pastors from different churches in Portland. They’re here to be a friendly face, and to gently offer support for those affected by the masked goons that the US is becoming increasingly used to.

“It's awful, I mean, just the cruelty,” Heather tells me.

"ICE have gone to children's schools, and taken their parents. They took that firefighter off the front lines in Washington. So many of the people aren't even committing a crime. Like - they're documented and everything. And even if they're criminals, these are still people. Like Jesus specifically mentions ‘prisoners’ as people we’re supposed to put ourselves in the shoes of, and take care of them. And so even if we wanna say they're criminals, the cruelty in the way at which they're going about taking people is unacceptable. Not even just from a Jesus level – just, like, basic humanity."

The strange thing about the ICE building in Portland is that it’s sitting on the edge of a residential area, looming next to blocks and blocks of fairly upmarket apartments. Josh tells me that ICE used to sit next to a school, but the school had to move because the kids were choking on tear gas all the time.

“It had to move at the beginning of this year, because of the tear gassing that was happening. It was basically making the soil toxic and dangerous to the children, and the teachers. And they also have school gardens and they're like, ‘We can't do this, so we have to move.’”

On this particular Thursday, things are quiet. There are about 50 people gathered outside the ICE facility. Some are holding signs. Some are knitting.

“We want to stand with our immigrant neighbors,” one woman tells me. She reminds me a lot of my mum back in New Zealand. “We're very concerned that they're being snatched off the street by masked people. And we feel it's wrong. We don't want to see troops here in Portland, we don't need them. It's a peaceful, quiet community and we're doing fine.”

As if I need to be reminded I’m in Portland, a man in red superhero outfit arrives across the street. He’s dressed as Ralph Hinkley from the short-lived 1981 TV show The Greatest American Hero.

“Well, I'm the greatest American hero, don't you know? I'm here to defend life, liberty, justice, the pursuit of happiness - and down with fascism, man!” he tells me. He goes on:

“What's happening here is ridiculous and it's unconscionable and it is uncalled for. As you can clearly see, nothing is burning. It's pretty chill. The only people here are peacefully protesting, exercising our freedom of speech to speak out against a tyrannical government. Plus, it's a colossal waste of time and money.”

Of course all of this ICE stuff serves one goal: Donald Trump, under the guidance of Steven Miller, wants desperately to invoke the Insurrection Act so he can declare martial law across the entirety of the United States.

The Insurrection Act is among the most powerful emergency powers at the disposal of a president, who can use it to deploy the U.S. armed forces and the militia to suppress insurrections, quell civil unrest or domestic violence, and enforce the law when it is being obstructed.

Deploying ICE to places like LA and Portland is just creating a pretense to that end – an end that has already been laid out very clearly in Project 2025 (written by a Christian Nationalist think tank).

To justify all of this, Trump wants things to get violent, especially in states that disagree with him.

The trouble is that Portland isn’t getting violent – as Webworm reader (and local Portlander) Jemiah made clear to me: “I'm a middle-aged, bisexual, disaster, black lady who is a novelist and is kind of not very good at anything else, but I'm a damn good novelist,” she says.

“I mean, I'm a weirdo! I've always been a weirdo. And I’ve never been able to actually fit in any place, but I like to observe things, and I like to talk to people and see what their lives are like on the ground. And in Portland, there just seems to be a much lower barrier of entry to be able to do that. You can talk to basically anybody, in any situation and almost every time it's going to be really friendly, and you learn a lot about people just by being like, ‘Hey, what did you do today?’

Also, we have a sort of like a standard way of operating here where we're goofy. We're never serious about anything except for the things that we're really serious about, like taking care of each other.”

I see that “weirdo” and “goofy” stuff when I return to the ICE facility later that night. Under the watchful eyes of goons with pepperball guns I see an axolotl, a giraffe, a unicorn and a panda. 

Later on, an elephant shows up.

And yes, the frog was there (ICE agents pepper sprayed into their suit last week) - who I interviewed mid-livestream of local news network KATU. “I came down here with two other frogs,” the frog told me. “I was hanging out, and then all these other animals started showing up. It was crazy. And there's gonna be more and more every night. It's great.”

Peaceful protesters didn’t mean an entirely peaceful vibe.

There were a few people waving American flags who were there to agitate and provoke. I saw a few younger guys with Charlie Kirk memorial merch live-streaming, attempting to get in protestors' faces for a reaction that’d get clicks.

An older guy with a long grey beard tells me he’s a Quaker, and is here most nights trying to keep things peaceful.

“I am a volunteer peacekeeper. We're just one little city. We've got about four Quaker groups around here, and there's a lot of others who are participating – other churches, and Buddhists. It's good that way. But it seems that Trump's third army, the podcasters, are increasing the pressure here because they want to have the violence that's been described as being here, but hasn't ever been here. They're trying to get that violence started.”

Any time federal vehicles entered or exited the ICE facility, the gates would open and a swarm of masked, armed agents would march out to push the crowd back. Three times they sprinted out into the protestors, without warning, grabbing those they deemed offensive – cuffing them, and dragging them back into the facility.

All the while, those men on the roof – fingers on their triggers – watched. They struck me as agitated and very ready to rain pepper bullets down on us. I looked up, and this is all I saw.

There had been three arrests – for reasons not immediately apparent on the ground – by the time I left at 1am.

I was encouraged by the people I’d met on the ground – pastors, frogs, superheroes alike – but dismayed by those lording over us with guns.

We’ll find out this week what ruling a federal appeals court makes about Trump’s plan to deploy National Guard troops in Portland. I keep hoping he’ll be stopped, somehow – but I’ve been thinking that since he first got elected in 2016.

For now, I am just trying to focus on all the good people on the ground who actually care.

Thanks for being here on Webworm. Things are feeling increasingly unhinged here in the United States. Even on my social media, the violent rhetoric is on the increase. Most of this stuff is bots, but still – like those ICE agents with their fingers on the trigger, it seems bad.

Comments like this under my posts on Instagram –

And you click through and see the account’s stories – 

Like those ICE agents (cowards, losers, racists) lording over us in Portland – it’s not a good vibe.

David.