(Substack)—From Washington DC to Portland and in nearly every major city in between, there are two near-certainties. First, Democrats control the lion’s share of mayors’ mansions, city council seats, and police chief offices. Second, Democrat voters have been indoctrinated into believing the problems Democrat politicians created can only be solved by Democrat politicians. They are not as ready for change as many Fox-News-watchers believe.
In conservative media echo chambers, we read stories or watch videos of citizens in cities like Chicago and Memphis complaining about crime and welcoming federal intervention. We see viral videos of Border Patrol officers getting thanked by sidewalk diners at local cafes in leftist cities. We hear anecdotal tails of reformed Democrats seeing the light. But these cases are not nearly as prevalent as we’re being led to believe.
The “Woke Mind Virus” is still widespread in these cities. “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is still commonplace. Despite great strides being made to wake the people up from the decades of brainwashing, the bulk of people living in major Democrat-run cities are still captives of the cult.
We see this in New York City where a full-blown Marxist is about to become the most powerful mayor in the world. I personally see it regularly in Los Angeles where a huge chunk of the city thinks ICE is their enemy. Even those who appreciate the raids and deportations will often still side with the “F- ICE” radicals.
Several cities can make a claim as being the most indoctrinated, but one stands out.
Portland used to draw people in with its offbeat vibe, craft beers, and that whole “keep it weird” mantra. These days, a trip there feels more like stepping into a cautionary tale about unchecked progressive governance. Fox News Digital columnist David Marcus, after spending time in the city, described an encounter that captures the absurdity perfectly.
His Lyft driver spent the ride insisting “President Trump has laundered money for Russia for decades and that Antifa doesn’t exist,” only to file a discrimination complaint afterward because Marcus pushed back on the rant.
That kind of exchange isn’t just a one-off; it points to a broader mindset where dissent gets labeled as bigotry. Marcus observed how residents appear convinced that stumbling over dead bodies on sidewalks counts as everyday life in America.
“Occasionally walking past dead bodies on the sidewalk is a normal American experience,” he noted, painting a picture of a population desensitized to the chaos around them. Elaborating on this, it’s clear the denial runs deep—people chat casually about fentanyl overdoses and tent cities as if they’re minor inconveniences, not symptoms of failed policies like drug decriminalization that turned streets into open-air markets for addiction.
Counter-protesters Marcus met on the ground put it bluntly, saying they’re fed up with “Antifa, drug addicts and woke policies that have ravaged a once-great city.”
Their frustration makes sense when you look at the numbers. Homelessness exploded after Oregon’s Measure 110 decriminalized hard drugs in 2020, leading to a surge in public use and related crime. Even though the state recriminalized possession earlier this year, the damage lingers, with encampments still dotting downtown and overdose rates stubbornly high. Antifa’s presence hasn’t vanished either; groups continue to clash in ways that disrupt normal life, all while locals downplay the violence as isolated or exaggerated by outsiders.
This isn’t just Portland’s problem anymore. With similar policies popping up in places like San Francisco and Seattle, the rot spreads. Marcus warns of the certainty among residents that supporting President Trump isn’t just mistaken—it’s downright immoral.
“Anyone calling themselves a Trump supporter isn’t just wrong, but immoral,” he wrote, describing the judgmental atmosphere that stifles debate. In such an environment, basic fixes like bolstering police presence or enforcing laws get dismissed as regressive.
President Trump’s recent crime crackdown initiatives offer a potential turnaround. His administration has already pushed back against the soft-on-crime approaches that let this mess fester under previous leadership. Yet, as Marcus’s experience shows, changing minds in these echo chambers won’t happen overnight. If cities don’t wake up to the delusion, what started in Portland could become the new normal everywhere—luxury condos next to squalor, ideological purity over public safety.
We have to keep chipping away at the brainwashed masses on the left. Some are irreversibly lost; they’d rather live dangerously than acknowledge that their side created the problems and our side is offering a solution. But others will come around. We need to educate them. We need to beat the drum of law and order while also defending the necessary actions of the administration.
That doesn’t mean DHS or the rest of the Trump administration is doing everything right. I would argue that they’re mishandling certain aspects of the ongoing crackdown. But some of our fellow American citizens voting against their own best interests may just need a dose of reality to snap them out of their indoctrination.
It’s not our responsibility. It’s not even our duty. They did this to themselves. But even if we’re not living in those cities, we’re still affected. It makes a whole lot of sense to expose them to the truth whenever possible. It behooves us to try to change the occasional heart and mind.
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