James Carafano, vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute at the Heritage Foundation, spoke with the Daily Caller’s Samantha Renck about the protests in Portland, U.S. leadership and more.
After nearly two months of protests and riots in Portland, Oregon, some are raising concerns about whether these incidents are organized attacks.
Carafano, a leading national security expert, differentiated between peaceful protests and riots happening in Portland.”These are mass demonstrations — which are perfectly permissible, they’re people’s First Amendment rights,” he said, “nobody has an issue with that. Even if people want to practice civil disobedience — if you want to break the law, that’s fine. Then you do it peacefully and you pay the consequences for that. That’s not what’s going on here.” Carafano continued, “we’re actually seeing adaptive behaviors. That’s the first sign that makes us think ‘maybe this is organized.'”
He then explained why he believes these events are happening in cities like Portland and Seattle. “The state and the mayors have created a very permissive environment that really allows for this kind of activity to go on.”
Carafano also discussed United States leadership, what he thinks might happen if these riots continue. (RELATED: ‘That’s A Myth’: Democrats Downplay The Violence In Portland)
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