CNN and MSNBC have reported on the mass exodus of law enforcement officers from the ranks of the police force in Portland, Oregon, yet neither connected the dots between the mass resignations and the city’s progressive, anti-police policies.
A brief segment on Saturday’s “CNN Newsroom” noted the fact that every member of Portland’s Rapid Response Team resigned after authorities charged one of its members with unlawful force during months of continuous riots. The district attorney who charged Corey Budworth with inappropriately using his baton last August was “emphasizing the need for consequences” as left-wing activists were “protesting against police misconduct,” the report said.
CNN only mentioned Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) to note that he released a statement “sympathizing with the resigning officers” and to reassure viewers that “the mayor says he has the resources and personnel in place to deal with any community safety situation.”
MSNBC ran a more extended report on Tuesday’s edition of “Stephanie Ruhle Reports,” highlighting Portland law enforcement officers’ plunging morale.
“Right now, police departments nationwide are struggling with burnout, with retirements up 45% and resignations up 18% across the country,” said Ruhle, introducing the package. “So many cops are out the door that it’s getting harder and harder to replace them as violent crime continues to spike – that violence even coming against police officers, with the number dying on duty soaring as compared to last year.” So far this calendar year, 46 police have been killed on the job, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page database.
“Morale I think is at an all-time low now,” Portland Police Officer Krute Aroonsuck told NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez. “It all boils down to these three main concepts of being underfunded, understaffed, and undersupported.”
Similarly, Portland police union executive director, Daryl Turner, said his officers are “dealing with rioting at a level and a sustained violence that we’ve never seen before.”
Neither network reported on Ted Wheeler’s decision to starve police of needed equipment and coddle nightly “protests” that broke out into violence.
The resignation of cops in “unprecedented” numbers overlapped with the city’s ongoing, often violent riots, where left-wing radicals pelted police with fireworks, a “mortar,” metal spikes, and frozen water bottles. Wheeler responded to what The Washington Post called “anti-police demonstrations” by offering to cut $12 million from the police budget. He also dismantled the city’s gun violence reduction team, a move some have blamed for the fact that homicides in the city have reached a 30-year high. Wheeler blamed the violence on National Guardsmen sent by President Donald Trump to protect federal buildings. It later emerged that the mayor considered telling Portland police to stand down in the face of the rioters, who regularly tried to burn down police headquarters.
Ruhle followed up the segment by claiming, “The idea behind Defund the Police is not to take money away from the police force, but to redeploy money in better, smarter ways to keep law enforcement safe.”
She did lament the fact that Portland police officers feel “underfunded, understaffed, and undersupported.”
Aside from Wheeler’s tenure as mayor, Ruhle could begin by looking at her own show. On Monday former Obama administration appointee Brittany Packnett Cunningham said, “This rising crime … is actually the fault of the police.”
Defund the Police activist & MSNBC contributor @MsPackyetti: Rising crime in NYC isn’t the fault of the #DefundThePolie movement; "it’s actually the fault of the police" pic.twitter.com/3ki9EX1Q1R
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 21, 2021
Ruhle did not respond, interrupt, or push back in any way on Cunningham’s unsupported sentiment — and certainly not because the MSNBC host is averse to confrontation; she literally screamed at West Virginia Governor Jim Justice (R) for signing a bill requiring biological males to compete exclusively against other biological males in sports.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.